


Your Light

by YoungSoon



Category: ATEEZ (Band)
Genre: Action, Action & Romance, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, At the very last chapter: SMUT, Developing Relationship, Domestic Fluff, Grim Reaper Mingi, Grim Reaper Yunho, Grim Reapers, M/M, Mature for mentions of death, Mentions of Character Death, Romance, Romantic Fluff, Spicy chapter 14, Supernatural Elements, Trigger warning: minor mention of suicide (not main characters or people close to them), human san, no actual death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-20
Updated: 2019-10-18
Packaged: 2020-07-08 12:36:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 56,744
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19869763
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YoungSoon/pseuds/YoungSoon
Summary: Grim Reapers or Angels of Death have a very unpleasant job - witnessing people dying. However, the most important task for them is to take souls to the other side. Nothing more is asked from them. But what would happen if a reaper notices a mistake in the list he needs to collect? What if someone who shouldn't be there is in it? Even more - what happens when a grim reaper falls in love with a human he needs to take away?





	1. - 1 -

The autumn morning is still early and the streets of an average-sized, unnamed town are still quiet and empty. Just a few early birds rush to their cars to get to work before the traffic jams, others huddle up at the bus stops waiting for the first buses to come by and pick them up. The morning is rather cold as the sun just barely rises at the horizon and the breaths of the bus waiters and those who rush to work escape into the air as thing white smoke, creating a fog of their own. Amongst the fog and those who are up already a tall dark figure makes its way to a side street hidden for everyone's view.

Long black coat, open widely despite the cold morning air, reaches down to half calf of the tall, well-built man. It reveals a seemingly ordinary black sweater underneath and a single black feather hanging from a thin silver chain around the man's neck. His hands are hidden in the pockets of his black jeans, held at his waist by a black leather belt with a silver buckle, reaching into heavy military boots. His face is hidden by a hat as black as the rest of his attire - with wide edges and a flat top reminding of old-time cowboy hats but with a bit more finesse. 

He almost glides past everyone on the streets, no one even paying attention to him despite his rather odd look. It is almost like he is and isn’t there at the same time - present but ignored by everyone in their daily tracks. That probably is the destiny of death - to always be present but ignored until it strikes. Not that he cares much. It is only his job after all.

The destination for his errand this morning is a rather small street filled with cafes and small shops. One could call it an aesthetic hotspot when it’s busy - rustling fruit stands of bright colors, vibrant and intoxicating flower shops, coffee shops with doors wide open and filling the air with the scent of the roasted beverage. The street itself is narrow, one way and not meant for more than one car to move on it at a time. Peaceful - that’s how he could call it, which made the upcoming events there even more unsettling.

He takes his hands out of his pockets and reaches for a black leather notebook, not much bigger than his hands, in the inner pocket of his coat. He opens it as if on a random page and looks at the words formed there since yesterday. A name, a location and a description of a gruesome death waiting for the person. A van speeding down the narrow street from a blindspot further down the road and hitting the unsuspecting victim, sending them flying over the car. Nothing pretty about it and not a pleasant way to go.

The man lets out a sigh and walks to a side street next to the shop which is mentioned in the description. He leans against the wall of the building, crossing his arms on his chest and lowers his head looking at the nothing that is below his feet. There is no specific time given, so he has to be here and wait. He always arrives early, being meticulous, and rather waits for long hours and than misses out on his duty - collecting a soul and guiding it to the afterlife.

Grim Reaper, The Death, Angel of Death - he and his colleagues carried various names and none of them carried a positive meaning when said out loud even though they did nothing wrong. People ignored and even badmouthed death around them every day and then feared it when meeting it, an interesting phenomenon he both understood and found ridiculous at the same time. At the end of the day, it mattered very little what people thought of death as their ending was the same. Always.

He remains in his spot, motionless, swallowed by the shadows and waits until a bit more people start to walk around the street. Then he begins to observe. Until the very last moment, his judgment has to remain clear - he needs to watch all of them without knowing their names and occupations to assess whether he will truly take them today. Almost always none of their actions save them from their fate, but there could always be exceptions.

A young man rushing down the street in light jog catches the grim reaper's attention. His hair is bleached light, ashy or strawberry blond would be the correct description. A bit oversized sports jacket is on his shoulders, wide open with a colorful t-shirt underneath it. Simple blue jeans, grey sneakers - nothing out of the ordinary in his outfit, but it is hard to look away from him. Maybe it’s the soft yet sharp features of his face, that makes him incredibly beautiful or the slightly worried look on his face as he looks at the time on his phone and rushes in a side street next to a fruit store. 

Just moments after he appears again, this time from the inside of the shop rising the metal gate in front of the windows and the door. He opens the shop door and secures it with a doorstop before grabbing a broom and vigorously wiping the front of the shop from dust and fallen leaves from the nearby flower shop. It seems like it’s a routine for him as he proceeds with carrying boxes of apples, oranges, plums, and other fruit and berries to the outside stands of the shop as well as to the window. He orders the price tags next to each box neatly and looks through the fruit to get rid of any bad ones. One could think he is the owner of the shop but he looked way too young for that.

An elderly man slowly comes from the back of the store. He looks well in his 80s and as observed before moves slowly, but he doesn’t seem to be weak or like he would be joining the reapers list soon. He pats the young man on the shoulder as he checks his work and shuffles back into the shop to organize the register. The young man, however, continues filling the shelves from the ones inside to finally carrying out watermelons to the stands outside. He has dropped his jacket somewhere inside and rushes around the store searching for something, coming out with a blackboard stand and chalk in various colors, preparing a special price list. 

More and more people start to appear on the streets - the neighboring shops and cafes opening one by one. What surprises the reaper is how near everyone appearing on the street great the young man with the sweetest ‘good mornings’ he has ever heard. The man responds to all of them with a bright smile on his face - dimples showing, eyes turning into crescents - and jumps to his feet to bow when someone older talks to him. Maybe he is the grandson of the owner? There is no relation between them, that much the reaper felt. Maybe a good part-timer? Nonetheless, he continues observing.

Students begin leaving for school from the homes behind the shops. Giggly girls waving at the hardworking blond, who waves back and even the boys greeting their hyung, their voices loud in the still crisp morning air. It seems like everyone knows who the young man is apart from the grim reaper. He doesn’t mind. On the contrary, he is quite happy to observe that there are still good people out there. The blond is definitely one, radiating an unmistakable aura of light that can be felt even in the dark corner when the reaper is standing.

“Oppa, good morning!” a tiny voice yells as a small girl, maybe 4 or 5 years old waddles over to the man. Her mom is right behind her with a small school bag in her hands, smiling at her little one's excitement. The blond squats down to be more on the girl's eyes level and listens attentively with the most genuine smile on his face as the little girl brags about her new dress and the tasty breakfast her mommy made her. Even the reaper has to smile at the interaction, more at the man than the girl.

His eyes sparkle with true amazement as he reacts to everything the girl says, he smiles brightly and allows the girl to hold on his hand. He doesn’t mind when the little hands go his hair, the girl calling him sunshine. Pure people that brought light to this world still existed and even though the reapers day held a horrible accident to witness, this made his eyes and usually heavy heart happy.

The mom steps in, rushing the girl to go or else she will miss kindergarten. In response to that, she gives the blond peck on the cheek before taking her mom's hand. “Bye-bye, San oppa,” she waves as she walks away and the very second the reapers smile falls.

Almost frantically he digs out the notebook from his pocket and opens it. He looks at the name written with black ink on the white pages and then back at the man who is now inside the store, talking to the owner.

“Choi San”, he whispers as he can’t believe what's written in the notes. For anyone, it would be a horrible way to go, but for someone so kind, so bright, with so much light to give - unimaginable. “This is wrong, This has to be a mistake,” he shakes his head and looks at the street as a vision of the event appears before his eyes.

He can see how San exits the store, putting on his jacket and putting his phone in his pocket. A tiny voice calls out for him and he waves to the one calling him. He is distracted by the voice and as he takes a step on the seemingly calm and quiet street, a van speeds from the corner in incredible speed. There is no time to avoid the impact that throws his body from the hood of the car to the windshield and then across the van until he hits the ground behind the car. There are screams of terror around the whole street - a veil of despair covering the whole area. The man from the fruit shop limping outside as fast as he can, yelling the young man’s name, but even in this vision, the reaper can look only at the blond on the ground. His eyes locked at the shadow the reaper is standing in, the light in his eyes disappearing slowly until they are completely empty.

The reaper shakes his head, the vision disappearing but at the same being close to coming true. His eyes lock on the store and he can see San taking his jacket from a shelf, looking around for his phone. There is not more than a minute to act and he has to do something. Whatever that something is as his mind seems completely empty and filled with nothing but panic.

Frantically, the reaper runs out from the shadow, his hat falling behind revealing his dark hair, but he doesn’t care. He stumbles across the street and even though it is the shortest possible run he is breathless when he stands in the door of the shop.

“Help,” is the only thing he can push past his lips. His eyes restlessly look around - he looks outside for the person who called San, for the van appearing from nowhere - and his breathing speeds up, even more, his heart going insane in his chest. “Please,” he ads. This is ridiculous and one can’t even call it a plan, but if this will prevent the accident, it is worth it.

“What’s wrong?” San’s voice matches his appearance. It’s soft but still has raspiness to it, creating a wonderful melody which the reaper wishes he could hear in a different setting. The blond steps closer, a bit cautious from the large man suddenly taking up the whole door space, but he doesn’t seem afraid - more concerned than anything.

“Are you hurt?” he asks, his eyes meeting the reapers and all the latter can remember is the vivid vision of the last spark of life leaving them. It sends him into a wave of genuine panic he has never felt before. He knees buckle and he collapses on his knees right there in the door. There are two gasps he can hear and San is right next to him in a split second, his hand on the reapers shoulder.

“Is this a seizure? Do you have medication for it with you?” he sounds absolutely terrified but not from the reaper - about the reaper would be more precise. The man can just shake his head. He covers his mouth with his hand trying to steady his breathing. He had had such reactions, or at least close to it but not as severe when mass catastrophes happened - fires, earthquakes, etc. Then the overwhelming amount of souls leaving too fast was too much to bear. Now it is just one soul but his body reacts on its own.

“Okay. Just stay calm,” he says and gently rubs the reapers arm in an attempt to calm him down. “Ahjussi, water,” he says to the elderly man who has shuffled closer to them and then walks away as fast as he can. “It’s okay,” he turns back to the man on his knees, his hand never leaving to keep the contact. His closeness is calming, the light he radiates breaking through the constant shadows surrounding a grim reaper and relieving the sudden tightness in his chest.

The shop owner returns with a cup of water and San hands it to the reaper. The latter’s handshakes as he reaches for it so San steadies it with his own while the man takes a sip. “Thank you,” he whispers and tries to calm his breathing but tires screeching from outside makes him jump to his feet instantly, San following along - his hands ready to catch the larger man in case he falls.

A black van speeds by, the speed moving the stands closer to the street and knocking over the chalkboards. There are shrieks of surprise and cursing at the mad-man driving like this. The reapers eyes follow the car as it disappears towards the main road and he can finally take a proper breath. He closes his eyes for a second, taking a few deep breaths and then looks at San who has his concerned eyes on him the whole time.

For a second the reaper can’t say a word. He is dragged into the endless pools of warm, deep amber-colored light and he can physically feel his heart shaking at the pure beauty of the soul hidden behind them. The light he felt even throughout his panic is even stronger now and draws him closer like a moth to a flame and he has a sudden urge just allow him to drown in it. It feels warm, welcoming, forgiving and oddly safe and the trembling in his chest only grows in strength. He grabs the fabric above where his heart is going insane and looks away taking a deep, shaky breath.

“Are you feeling better?” San’s hand gently rests on the reaper’s shoulder and he inhales unevenly again. “If you feel that there will be a second wave you should probably sit down,” the caring man says and takes a step closer to provide support in case needed. 

The reaper shakes his head and just for second glances at the man next to him, not to disappear in his light again even though deep down he wouldn’t mind doing so at all. “Thank you,” he manages to say before walking out of the store, still holding onto his chest as his heart isn’t calming down.

“Wait!” he hears San’s voice calling for him but he doesn’t want to turn around. He just wishes the man stays off the street for a moment longer. “Are you really okay? Hey!” he calls after the reaper and it takes a lot not to look back but he manages. He quickly marches into the side street where he was hiding before, grabs his hat from the ground and dives into the nearest shadow as he feels footsteps behind him. He quickly lowers his head and puts his hat on and becomes one with the dark nothingness.

“Wait! That street doesn’t go anywhere!” San’s voice nears him and he sees the blond stopping at the edge of the side street looking in the darkness in front of him. “Where did he go…” there is an audible pout in his voice as he takes a step deeper into the alley. “What if he is not ok at all…” the pout turns into concern again and the reaper presses both of his hands against his chest, fearing his own heartbeat could betray him.

There is a deep sigh and footsteps leaving the alley. Only when they are further away the reaper dares to step out of the shadow. San is talking to shop owner again, both of them standing at the door of the shop. The grim reaper takes this chance and quickly leaves the side street, walking back the way he came there. From the side of his eyes, he sees San as if directly looking at him but that would be impossible, right? He walks off, his heart still beating like mad until the shop is out of sight.

He stops at a corner next to the main road and takes out the notebook from his pocket. As predicted, the event is crossed out in red ink as it didn’t take place. Just for a second, he feels like he can breathe properly until a new paragraph starts appearing below the previous one. It’s the same name - Choi San written black on white. The date is now two days forward and the location changed to a nearby subway station, no details appearing yet. 

The reapers hands tighten around the edges of the notebook before he shuts it and stuffs it in his pocket. Undoubtedly it is some sort of mistake, as never - even when a soul is spared - does a new situation appear this fast. He is determined not to let that happen - to let the light this world needed desperately to disappear wrongfully. The loud beating of his heart only confirms his determination as he turns left and disappears in the shadow of the light post.


	2. - 2 -

Unlike the seemingly calm and peaceful side street, the middle of the town is full of people, cars and constant movement. Teenagers and college students, moms with their kids, business men and women rushing to work, shops and cafes opening, trucks rushin past to deliver goods - a mess of sounds, colors, scents and faces. Even in a rather early morning hour it is as busy as ever and it is a lot harder to hide in the crowd or to be unnoticed. Mostly because the hat that usually hides the reaper from curious eyes is tucked away in the spacious pockets of his coat. Much else hasn’t changed in his look, the sweater changed to one with a different pattern on it as he steps out of the shadow into the crowd.

Restlessly he lingers at the entrance of the subway station. The notebook revealed the place and day but gave no specifics of the time, as always. Last night it updated with details of the event itself making the reaper as alert as ever. A man would have a meltdown in the station - yelling, threatening his own life, being aggressive - and San along with another bystander would attempt to calm him down. In an outburst of aggression he would push the other man down and as he would launch with full strength at San, the latter would lose his balance on the fallen man and fall onto the tracks right in front of passing through train that does not slow down. 

A shiver runs through the reaper. This is a vision he doesn’t want to see. Even the previous one still haunted him throughout his work throughout the previous two days. He has seen so many horrible things throughout the couple of centuries he is doing this, guided so many souls, both good and bad, but this hits him harder than anything. Perhaps, just perhaps it is not only about the work ethic and this being a mistake. Maybe he has…

He shakes his head and continues to observe the crowd. As he looks at the faces and figures passing by the one he is waiting for finally appears. The strawberry blond hair, slicked back from the man’s face today, stands out in the crowd and just for a second the reaper simply observes. The same a bit too big jacket, a hoodie under it with what looks like a university logo on it, the same or at least similar jeans. A backpack is casually thrown over his shoulder, earphones connected to his phone poking out of the front pocket of his jeans. There is a calm, serene expression on his face with just the slightest hint of a smile and the reaper catches himself smiling at that. Just maybe it isn’t just work.

He has to take a deep breath before he begins moving through the crowd towards the man. For a second he tries to think of a better plan than the one he has in his mind, but as nothing comes up in the moment he goes with it anyway. As San is about to go down to the station he rushes to his side and puts his hand on the blond’s shoulder stopping him. The latter jumps a little but as he turns and sees he taller man his face blooms into a beautiful, radiant smile and the reaper almost gasps out loud.

“Hey!” San says cheerfully, taking out his earphones and turning fully to face the man. His eyes are as warm as the previous time, his smile genuine and soft on his delicately curved lips. The reapers heart sped up once again and he hadn’t felt it rush so much and so often at that for a long time.

“Hi,” the taller of two replies. “I’m sorry I’m running up to you like this,” he begins, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly as the two shiny eyes look straight at him. Who would have thought and believed that a grim reaper can this flustered? “I just wanted to thank you for that morning.” So far none of his words are lies, he is both genuinely sorry he needs to start the conversation like this and he is thankful.

“Oh! You’re welcome. Are you feeling better?” of course, it wouldn’t be truly San if he wouldn’t ask that. His eyes are so mesmerizing and deep in the most cliche way possible the reaper has trouble keeping himself from disappearing in them, but he manages somehow. He needs to remember his work is a priority. Fixing the mistake is the priority. 

“Yes. I don’t have such attacks often. I just kind of lost it a bit more than usual. I can handle myself other times,” he explains and it is the truth yet again. “Thank you once more and sorry I run away so fast.”

“No need to thank me but I do accept the apology for running away,” San pouts a little and he looks so incredibly cute it is hard to keep a straight face. “I didn’t even get to know your name,” he ads, the pout changing to a small grin.

“Yunho. I’m Yunho,” the reapers reaches out his hand for a proper greeting. It feels odd to say his name out loud, he hasn’t done that in so long. No one introduces themselves to the ones they take away, it simply isn’t necessary.

“Nice to meet you Yunho, I’m San,” the shorter male smiles brightly, dimples appearing in his cheeks, and takes Yunho’s hand. The touch is as warm as the smile or even warmer and once again the reaper is ready to dive into the almost divine brightness radiating from the man before him and get absolutely lost in it after the endless shadow he is stuck in. But he can’t.

“Nice to meet you too,” Yunho can only reply and he lets go of the handshake. Strange but pleasant tingles run over his palm. It is the weirdest feeling but he doesn’t hate it at all. 

“I would love to talk more but I need to catch a train,” San points down at the station and the fact he has to go down there makes Yunho uneasy. He is well aware he can’t tell the man not to go there but he can still do his best to prevent the tragic accident.

“Oh! Must be fate as I need to go down as well,” the reaper quickly responds and there is that warm smile on San’s face again. He feels how he is smiling back too and it is a facial expression he thought he couldn’t make anymore but he is obviously wrong.

“Fate indeed,” he says and starts to go down, glancing back at Yunho half a step behind him. The flow of people going down the stairs and turning left starts to slow down and pile up, a loud ruckus in the station making them stop and either observe or to slowly find ways around the cause of the noise. The two men push their way forward, or rather San is moving forward and Yunho is just following, until they can see what is going on. 

A man, as Yunho’s notebook predicted, is yelling phrases of his own demise and the end of everyone around him but most of it can’t be understood. He paces around dangerously close to the train tracks, going to the very edge and then stepping back and grabbing his head, muttering gibberish. A lot of commenters can be found in the crowd - those who yell at him to move away or to do what he has come here to do and allow them to move on are the loudest ones.

A frown forms on San’s face at the curses flying at the distressed man and he is about to step into the small space that is empty around the man. However, Yunho grabs him by the shoulder and holds him in the place. When San looks back at him the reaper just shakes his head. The look on his face convinces San to stay or maybe it is his hands shaking and eyes watering. The vision he doesn’t want to see pushes itself in front of his eyes and he just watches. The fall. The speeding train. The horrifying aftermath.

“Are you okay? Is it the same thing as before?” San turns more towards him, his attention now away from possible danger, and asks to which he receives a nod. It is not a lie as it is indeed a very similar reaction to a disturbing, grotesque vision. Maybe because it’s the first time seeing a train accident like this that shakes him or maybe, more likely even, because it’s San Yunho can’t seem to breathe again. 

He is a professional of his trade and a high ranked one at that, but contrary to a common misconception death is not emotionless and heartless. As a power, an entity that has given it’s diluted abilities to the reapers it feels everything even more vividly and so do the reapers. They often get used to things most would never imagine even seeing or they can tune out worthless pleads from souls they are taking away, but they still feel everything - to the smallest nuance They are trapped in a shadow between life and death feeling both sides as intensely as one could. So no matter how high of professional a reaper is he still feels more than people would think. Especially when something more than just work is involved.

“Maybe we should step aside, where there is more air,” the shorter male says with full concern despite the fact Yunho towers well above most of the crowd at the station. Exactly his light makes Yunho feel things more intensely but the presence of it is worth it.

After Yunho nods San grabs the hand Yunho has on his shoulder and leads him through the crowd again, this time in the opposite direction until an empty spot near the wall catches his attention. As soon as they reach it Yunho rests his back against it, not trusting his legs to hold him up after the view only his eyes saw. He looks at San who is looking back at the crowd and his chest tightens. He squeezes his eyes shut and takes deep breaths to get the vision out of his mind as it keeps playing before his eyes. Only after a few of those he realizes San is still holding onto his hand - tightly and reassuringly.

The noise from the spectacle so many people have found worth watching gets louder and a voice belonging to a man starts to talk calmly to the distressed person. In his head Yunho notes that it begins - someone has stepped in to stop the man. He is almost scared San will try to move forward but as Yunho’s hands begin to shake harder the blond just tightens his grip and instead of the crowd turns to Yunho.

“Try to breathe slowly. It seems less serious this time so maybe it will pass faster,” he smiles softly and steps next to the reaper, resting his back against the wall as well. His hand, however, still remains to hold Yunho’s tightly, his warmth, his brightness washing over him in slow waves like an ocean filled with moonlight. San’s eyes still wonder to the commotion behind the human wall, but they quickly return to Yunho with the softest look.

Whatever is sending these horrible situations towards San is not fate. Yunho has been a reaper for long enough to know that genuinely good people are not meant to leave so fast nor in such horrible ways. The soul behind San’s eyes carries enough love to make this ridiculously complex and dark world better and he has to stay here longer. It is a fact Yunho’s still rapidly beating heart knows. He responds to San holding his hand and squeezes it tighter and as their eyes meet just for a second, for the briefest moment he allows himself to disappear in his bright light.

San is about to say something when the horn of the passing through train can be heard. The man who has caused the spectacle screeches loudly and there are a couple of shockeding yells and gasps as a faint sound of impact can be heard. The whole platform seems frozen and not a single voice can be heard until an announcement through the speaker asks everyone but the directly involved to leave. The police finally arrive, rushing down the stairs, and separates the first row observers from others to take their statements. It’s an absolute blur before one's eyes.

From the corner of his vision, Yunho sees another tall, dark-clad figure with the signature hat walking through the crowd and he knows there is no saving for who ever jumped or fell. His eyes meet with the figure, a smile of a close colleague - Mingi - shocks him while the other man salutes quickly and disappears in the crowd.

“We should probably go,” San speaks and it seems he has been looking at the dark figure too before he looks up at Yunho. “Are you feeling well enough?” he asks and the reaper finally snaps out of the weird trance he was in the whole time. 

“Yeah. I’m fine,” he says and stands up straight. He expects for San to let go of his hand but instead, he still holds onto it as they get out of the station - up the stairs and on the street. He lets go only when both of them are on the pavement and moved aside from the flow of people leaving the underground space.

“I am not sure which direction you need to take, but I will try to catch a bus further that way,” he nods towards the direction he will go. He is obviously shaken by what happened, even his usual brightness can’t mask it as his eyes shake and breath gets caught in his chest a bit. Seeing his kind soul reacting like this Yunho is more than glad he didn’t actually see what happened. No one should have seen it, but...

“You can’t help everyone, you know,” he says and San looks at him puzzled for a second before smiling faintly and shaking his head.

“I know,” he says and even though there is a tint of sadness in his features, he still looks breathtaking - like an embodiment of heavenly glow before Yunho. “Will you be okay if I go now?” the blond asks and after what just happened the concern in his voice is even more prominent.

“Yeah. I need the other direction so...” Yunho tries to smile and it seems it calms the shorter male a bit.

“If you don’t feel well again, please, stop somewhere and wait until it passes. Be careful, ok?” San speaks as if he has known Yunho for years, with deepest and sincerest worry in his voice.

“I will. Don’t worry,” Yunho nods, feeling how his features shift into a reassuring smile. “See you around? If fate makes it happen,” he says with a hope that this might have been the last time he sees San for a very, very long time. Deep down he doesn’t want it to be the last time, but at the same time, he wants danger to step away from the man. So he takes a moment to engrave the softly smiling male before him in his memory.

“See you around then,” the smile on the blond’s face is more genuine as he turns around to get to his bus stop. He turns around a few steps away and waves almost too adorably and Yunho has to wave back, he can’t help it.

The reaper watches as San leaves through the crowd and when he is far enough he pulls the hat from the pocket of his coat and puts it on, disappearing form the curious eyes of strangers. He follows the silhouette of the blond with his eyes and he can swear when San turns around for a moment and their eyes meet, the human holding the eye contact for a few seconds before Yunho is the one who turns away and leaves.

He walks to an intersection near by and takes the notebook out again. As he thought, the second paragraph has been crossed out with red, but for his shock and terror, a third one has begun appearing. It’s still Choi San. The date is three days in the future and the location is near the first one. No more details.

Yunho’s hands shake again, this time with pure anger as he shoves the notebook in his pocket. No matter how many times new paragraphs would appear in the notebook he would save San from the fate that is not his. Yunho knew it is not the man’s and he just needed a chance to confirm it. Until then he would protect San. Whatever it takes.


	3. - 3 -

Yunho’s eyes are focused on the pitch dark, steaming liquid in the white mug in front of him. His hands hug the mug, the heat it radiates emulating the one from the handshake three days ago, but so weekly it doesn’t compare at all. He hears the clock ticking on the wall of the cafe through the soft music playing in the background and over the noise made by the coffee machine and human voices. 

He is sitting at a table in a cafe on the same street he first encountered San. It’s rather small - only with few tables and one counter - hidden in a double floor house with apartments above it. It is kept in warm and welcoming earth tones with live plants and minimalistic decor. It would be lovely if not the reason why Yunho is there. The very cafe is written in his notebook down to the very detail of the address. Undoubtedly this is the place of the next possibly deadly accident. Yet this time it has no description. Just a vague ‘falling from above’ and it gives no possibility to figure out how to prevent it. Even more so, Yunho doesn’t even know when San will show up and, honestly, he hoped he wouldn’t at all.

The early morning hours rush by - from the opening of all shops and cafes to breakfast menu changing to lunch one. He still sits at the same spot, out of politeness more than need ordering another mug of coffee after he has slowly drunk the first one - the last sips rather cold. The location in the notebook does not change and he can’t risk leaving, in case San comes here while he is gone.

He is sinking in the hypnotic nothingness of the half-empty mug before him until a tap on the window next to him startles him. He turns his head to meet the bright smile of no one else but the strawberry blond man, waving at him from the other side of the glass. He first shock slows down his reaction but he manages to wave back. Before he can even blink the man walks past the window and the doorbell of the cafe rings in the air.

“It really must be fate, huh,” San’s voice is now next to Yunho and he looks up at the smiling man. His hair is a free-falling, fluffy mess from the wind outside. The always present jacket is still there, however, underneath it a light lilac sweater with lettering in front is revealed. Ripped jeans show off his legs and give his rather cute and soft color combo look a bit of an edge. He looks wonderful, that’s the easiest way to describe it. While Yunho, well, he has a button-down shirt, black, of course, instead of a sweater on but everything else in his outfit has stayed the same. 

“It really must be,” Yunho repeats with a smile he can’t keep back. “Do you, maybe, have time for a coffee?” he follows up with a question and it doesn’t even take a moment for the blond to nod. He takes the backpack off his shoulder and places it on the seat in front of Yunho, muttering a small ‘be right back’ as he walks to the counter. Once more Yunho has a chance to observe him.

He sways a little as he stands in one place - switching balance between his legs - as he looks at the possibilities written in the menu. His lips push forward in a thoughtful pout, head tilts to the side as he is contemplating between the many choices until he lets out a cheerful “ok” and turns to the barista. Yunho almost laughs as the guy behind the counter is a bit flustered by San and takes his order a bit timidly compared to how he served Yunho. Sometimes light could be too blinding at first.

San walks back to the table with what looks like a latte, a drawing of a bear hidden in the foam, and sits down, putting his bag aside. He looks at the cute latte art for a moment before turning his gaze to Yunho’s cup. “What are you having?” he asks trying to see in the mug.

“Just black coffee,” Yunho responds looking at his cup and then at San’s. The difference is quite obvious.

“You really don’t like color, do you?” San frowns a bit and raises his cup up to take a sip but after a quick look at the cute face looking back at him, he puts it down for now. His hands, however, remain on it and tap gently on the white sides of the cup.

Yunho lets a small laugh as in comparison to San he looked like a storm cloud. He knows that but the man pointing it out in such a way only makes him smile. “I do prefer black, yeah,” he admits and he has to laugh at the intense frown on San’s face.

“Colors would look good on you. Maybe light blue or white,” he says as he closely observes the reaper. “Also smiling suits you better than that serious expression you usually have,” he adds and the words themselves naturally draw a smile on Yunho’s features. There is probably no point to explain his ‘profession’ largely dictated his attire and expressions so Yunho simply nods.

“Maybe I should try it - the colors - someday,” he replies with and takes a sip from his luke-warm coffee. San follows his example, carefully taking a sip from his cup. A pleased smile spreads on his lips as he licks them clean from late foam and as he instantly looks at Yunho the latter hopes his staring is not too obvious.

“So, what brings you here apart from fate?” the blond asks, warming his hands on the cup, his sparkly eyes locked on Yunho.

“Work. I have something to do near here later,” he replies with absolute truth as on a larger scale it is work that has brought him here, while he knew himself it is no longer just work and fixing a mistake in the system. 

“Can I ask what do you do?” San seems genuinely interested but Yunho shakes his head, a puzzled expression appearing on the blond’s face.

“It’s not a very happy job so I don’t talk about it a lot,” the reaper admits, knowing well enough how heavy his heart has become through centuries of seeing people pass and leading souls. It isn’t a happy job at all.

“Do you at least like it? At least a little bit?” the human now looks almost sad, maybe a bit concerned and the way his heart feels for someone instantly is almost magical.

“I guess I do. I know that at the end of the day I am doing something useful,” he says after a small sigh. That seems to put San at some sort of ease as he nods and takes a sip from his cup again turning his gaze to the window, seemingly thinking about what Yunho said.

He looks almost regal or even angelic with a peaceful expression on his face, looking at the people passing by, the reflection from the window playing in his eyes. His light calmly and evenly radiates throughout the cafe as he lightly sways with the music playing in the background. It’s calming and relaxing and as such lovely silence has settled between Yunho doesn’t want to interrupt it. He turns his gaze to the window too, more interested in the reflection of the blond rather than the people outside. What surprises him is their eyes meeting through the reflection and they both instantly look down at their cups again, the air around sinking in strangely.

“So, what do you do?” Yunho restarts the conversation fearing the silence might become awkward now.

“University. Sometimes I take part-time jobs if the lecture schedule allows,” San seems relieved at least one of them spoke up. “It’s not very exciting but I like what I study and my course mates are great too,” he adds and there is no deceit in his words - there is always just cristal clear truth coming from him and that is just another wonderful quality of his.

The doorbell rings again and by instinct, Yunho turns a bit to look. What he doesn’t expect to see is Mingi in similar all-black attire to his, with the hat in his hand, walking into the cafe. He seems to notice Yunho instantly his eyes first going to the fellow reaper and then to the human sitting at the same table. An all-knowing smirk appears on Mingi’s face as he proceeds to make his order - black coffee and a chocolate muffin - and carries on to take a seat at an empty table behind Yunho. 

“Will you excuse me for a moment? He’s a colleague of mine,” Yunho turns to San who has been looking at Mingi as attentively as Yunho.

“Sure,” he nods and snaps out, looking at the reaper before him with that soft smile that graces his face oh so often.

Yunho excuses himself again as he stands up and walks straight to the other table, where Mingi is already digging into his muffin. “Good morning,” he murmurs with cheeks full of food as he looks up at Yunho.

“Yes. Good morning. What are you doing here?” Yunho half whispers taking a seat at the table. He is glad there is no one else in the cafe apart from San, the two reapers and the staff or else they would attract too much attention.

“Having breakfast,” the other reaper replies casually, showing a chunk of the muffin in his mouth. “Waiting for something,” he adds and attempts to wash down the pastry with coffee, but winces at the heat and puts the mug down.

“The last name of what you’re waiting is not Choi, right?” Yunho asks as quietly as he can, so only Mingi could hear him. If the task has jumped to another notebook it would explain why there are no details.

“Nope,” comes a very simple answer as the man wipes his mouth and gives a second attempt to the coffee, first blowing at it a bit. As Yunho seems to relax a bit even though the question about the vague description is even more prominent in his mind. Mingi, however, decides to stir him up again.

“How’s your date going?” he asks almost too loudly and Yunho’s eyes grow big. He quickly glances at San who is now looking at them. He waves in the same adorable way he always does and it takes a second for Yunho to register he is responding to Mingi waving his big hand around.

“Stop that,” Yunho pushes out through a forced smile as he waves back at San too and turns to the widely grinning man. “This is not a date. I’m at work,” he utters and the man before him raises his eyebrows.

“Well, you can date during work. I’ve done that. He’s real cute, by the way,” he speaks matter of factly and sips on his coffee.

“Again, stop,” Yunho emphasizes. He digs into his pocket and pulls out the notebook, opening the page he needs and giving it to Mingi. The latter looks at the paper, his playful expression changing to a serious one. He switches from the notebook to Yunho and then to San, who is now looking out the window again. 

“This is not right. Not because he’s cute, but… it’s just not,” he whispers in a low voice. “If you spared him once, the next even should not be so soon. Or it should appear in a different notebook,” he murmurs looking at the words written before him. “And what even is ‘falling from above’? It’s never this vague,” he frowns.

“Exactly,” Yunho leans closer being extra sure no one would hear them. “I have no idea what is going on but I am preventing this mistake to go any further than it already has,” he says and Mingi just nods handing the notebook back to Yunho.

“You need to get to the Library. Ask around, read some sources, give your notebook for inspection, maybe even have time off until this is fixed,” the reaper continues but Yunho shakes his head.

“I can’t go. Who knows how long that would take and what would appear on that page,” he glances back at San who is resting his chin in his hand, his elbow on the table as he looks outside, blinking slowly and still swaying with the music.

“Take him with you. This is exception enough,” Yunho has to shake his head to this remark as well.

“He doesn’t know who I am,” he explains and Mingi can just sigh. As he does so a loud bang echoes around the cafe, shaking the whole building. It almost sounds like an explosion coming from somewhere in the house.

Everyone freezes in their places and looks around for the source. Even the dish-washer peers out of the kitchen to take a look. There is a loud crack and all eyes turn to the ceiling. Crack after crack echoes in the air as the ceiling bends lower and lower. With one final bang and a crack the ceiling comes caving in with massive force and it’s a matter of seconds on what to do.

In less than a blink of an eye, Yunho is up from his seat and launches forward with full force as the largest chunk of the falling apart top floor is coming down right where San has jumped to his feet. The scene around him slows down and he quickly glances back - Mingi standing behind him, his hat on and hiding most of his features, the feather hanging around his neck glowing bright blue. He will thank him later.

He moves forward dodging the, for him, slowly falling debris. As he approaches San he could swear his eyes focus on Yunho even though he shouldn't be able to do so. In an instant, the reaper wraps his arms around San while still moving forward and holds him close. He turns them mid-air, so he would be the one who lands on the floor with his shoulder. As he does the time resumes its usual flow. 

The middle of the ceiling is completely fallen in - the large supporting beam has come down along with the flooring and the blocks between the two floors crushing the table Yunho and San were sitting at to a pile of wood. It has crushed the counter in half and sent items flying around the cafe, or what is now left of it.

Yunho takes a quick glance at Mingi who just pushes his hat lower, hiding more of his face and salutes towards his colleague before almost casually walking up the beam that has fallen to the second floor. This is what he waited for. Whoever caused the explosion and a chain reaction that lead to this is now in Mingi’s hands.

“Yunho,” a small voice calls out the reapers name and he looks down at San still tightly pressed against his chest. His eyes are wide and terrified, his hands gripping Yunho’s coat to the point his knuckles are white. Yunho can swear he is even shaking slightly and he doesn’t want to let him go - pure fear of him falling apart there and then crossing Yunho’s mind.

“Are you okay?” he asks, still holding the smaller man close and almost automatically tightening his hold around him. “Are you hurt?” he continues and slowly sits up pulling him along.

“No… I’m fine… I think…” San whispers and looks around the mess that the cafe. His eyes go to each person there - the baristas and the dish-washer - and he sighs in relief when he sees all of them are okay. His eyes shoot up to Yunho immediately.

“Are you not hurt?” he asks his voice shaking a little and the tightness suddenly appearing in Yunho’s chest is unbearable. He slowly unwraps his arms from the blond but keeps them on his shoulders.

“I’m okay,” he nods and follows San’s eyes to their table after he nods. This ‘falling from above’ is more intense than anything he imagined would happen. The vague message prevented a vision, not that it would have helped anyway.

“I was just sitting there,” he murmurs as he looks at what’s left of his seat and the table. “Just a second later…” he continues mumbling and Yunho has to pull him to his feet. While San still stares at the rubble, the reaper grabs his bag from the side of the fallen beam and dusts it off. Just like in the train station but reversing their roles he takes San’s hand in his and guides him over the fallen ceiling and out of the shop. He doesn’t say a word and for now, focuses on getting San away from there. The staff probably doesn’t even notice them leaving from their shock, but he can hear sirens approaching so leaving is a good idea none the less.

He holds on to the blond’s hand tightly, the man just half a step behind him, and guides them down the busy street with people turning towards where they heard the noise. They walk past the fruit shop and to the very end of the street, turning right towards a park. Not a single word is said until they reach a quiet spot in the park away from the main paths and popular spots. Only then Yunho dares to let go of San’s hand, however, unwillingly.

As they sit down on the bench, their breathes heavy from the fast walk, a mildly unsettling silence settles between them. It’s understandable, but it doesn’t make it less painful. “Are you really okay?” Yunho dares to break the silence and instead of a proper reply San just nods. “It’s okay if you’re scared or shocked. This doesn’t happen every day…”

“Why did your colleague go upstairs?” San asks suddenly and looks at Yunho with his eyes glossy, almost watery but the expression on his face stern and serious, so unlike him. “He was at the train station too, right?” he continues and Yunho can stare back at him. “How did you outrun the ceiling when you were on the other side of the cafe?” he adds, his hands grabbing on the edges of the holes in his jeans. “Where did you go when we first met if that alley has no exit?” 

Yunho is taken aback by all questions raining upon him. He doesn’t know how to answer a single one of them, let alone all of them at once. He looks away from San, his eyes not knowing where to look exactly. How did he notice all of that in the first place?

“Yunho…” San’s voice calls out his name and he looks up meeting the endless dark amber lakes looking at him and without a surprise - with no resentment or fear, rather with concern but a different than ever before. “Who… what are you, Yunho?” he asks looking straight at the reaper and he has no choice but to answer the straightforward question in the same manner.

“I am an angel of death. I am the grim reaper,” he lets the words fall from his lips and weight both leave his shoulders and reappears but for a different reason.


	4. - 4 -

“An… angel of death…” San repeats and looks away from Yunho to the sandy patch of the land beneath his feet. “I see,” he nods slowly and continues looking at nothing below him, poking the sand with his shoes. “I guess it could make sense,” he adds and oddly enough he doesn’t seem shocked or scared, he doesn’t look like he is mocking the answer given to him either. He just seems confused and for a good reason.

“I can prove it,” Yunho tries to get San’s attention on him, his heart racing in his chest from both nervousness and fear. It is very rare for a reaper to reveal who he is so that alone makes him unsure, but most of all he doesn’t want to scare San away. “Do you want me to prove it?” he asks maybe leaning a bit close to the man but he just nods, not flinching at all.

Yunho stands up and pulls the hat out of the pocket of his coat, which is a magic trick of its own. “This hides us from humans. When we put it on we are still there but no one notices us. It allows to walk amongst humans without attracting attention,” he explains and puts it on. San’s eyes, however, stay locked on him and it has already been proven that for some reason he sees through the veil around reapers.

“When we wear it we can… do things one would not expect,” Yunho takes a deep breath and with wide strides walks to the shadow of the nearest tree. The feather around his neck glows radiant green and as he steps into the patch of grass hidden from the sun he disappears. There is a proper reaction from San now as he gets up from the bench and looks around to find no one even close to the place he is at now. He looks around for the tall dark silhouette only to notice further away at the busiest part of the park.

The man is standing in the middle of the busiest pathway, yet no one runs into him. It’s like he is not even there as people casually pass him by. They avoid the spot where he is standing but they don’t look up or pay any attention to him being there. He stands there for a moment motionless before heading straight to the thin shadow of a light post and even from afar San can see the feather gleaming green. In seconds the man emerges from the same shadow of the tree where he left.

“Is this believable enough?” Yunho asks as he walks back to the bench and takes the hat off. He keeps in his hand as he sits down and looks up at San who is still standing and looking down at him. “I don’t know why you can see me or my colleague though. You must be even more special than I thought,” he says with a very faint smile looking away at the distance. From the corner of his eye, he sees how San sits down next to him and looks at the sand again before turning to Yunho.

“If you are an angel of death, why are you protecting me? Because you are, right?” the blond asks and Yunho turns to him. He could list so many reasons at this point on why. This very conversation being one of them as who else would be okay to even consider this insane possibility of grim reapers being real. Instead, he pulls out his notebook, opens it on the most dreaded page it has and hands it to San. As the man reads he explains.

“We get tasks in our notebooks - where to be, what to expect and who to take with us. That morning after watching you, after seeing what was written for you, I decided not to let it happen,” he admits. Yunho rests his arms on his knees as he leans forward, clasping his hands together as he looks at people in the distance, the hat resting on the bench next to him. “Very rarely we can make a decision not to take someone,” he adds and glances at San who is still looking intensively at the notebook.

“After the second event appeared I understood something was definitely not right. The third one only making it more certain and…” he tries to continue his explanation but San stops him.

“There is a fourth one,” he says and Yunho immediately grabs the notebook from his hands. Indeed, a fourth paragraph has appeared beneath the previous one. The name is unchanging, however, the location is the park they are at right now and the date matches the previous entry. This park and today.

“Impossible,” Yunho jumps to his feet and looks around the park. “This is actually impossible,” he repeats and looks at San who staring at him wide-eyed. Whatever is after San, it is very serious about getting rid of him.

“Mingi is right. Damn it,” he sighs and turns towards San properly whose eyes are not leaving Yunho. “I need to report this, get the notebook checked and gather at least some kind of information about what could be happening, which means I need to go the…” he stops as he doesn’t really know how to explain where he needs to go. Once again the fact that he has never had the need to explain it to anyone fails him. 

“Whatever it is, you’re taking me along, right?” San suddenly stands up and Yunho is taken aback. 

“I… I was about to say I need to take you along to make sure you’re safe,” he stammers out in response. There is this extremely vivid fighting spirit in San’s eyes. There is not the slightest hint of fear, his light radiating as brightly as ever.

“Good,” he nods making the most ridiculously cute serious face possible and despite the situation being far more than just serious Yunho has to bite his bottom lip to hold back a laugh and he hopes San doesn’t notice it.

“Okay,” he pushes past the growing laugh in his chest and puts his notebook in his pocket and the hat on his head. “Let’s go then,” he reaches out his hand towards San who looks at it for a moment before taking a deep breath and taking it.

“I like you without the hat better,” he murmurs as they walk towards the same shadow of the tree Yunho used before to move. He looks back at the slightly pouting man and this time he can’t help but smile.

“I can’t really travel if I don’t have it on,” Yunho replies and as he is a step away from the shadow the feather glows more teal than green. He pulls the shorter man nearly flush against his chest and the shiny deep amber eyes find him even in the shadow cast by the hat. The light of the feather gets brighter as San is close but Yunho has, unfortunately, or fortunately, lost himself in the incredible trust radiating from the shorter man.

The hand Yunho is not holding grabs onto the edge of his coat again and maybe, just maybe San steps even closer himself. His eyes are not leaving Yunho even for a second and as everything flashes bright teal around and fades to black he is still looking at the reaper and only him. The light around them slowly returns as the black fades to the teal and then to pleasantly orange light. 

From the middle of the park, they are in the middle of a long hallway in front of a large, wood-work embellished door. Scenes that remind more of fairy tales or myths are carved around the perimeter of the large entryway. The whole hallway is lit by a pale orange, upwards curved lamps placed on the walls in every second gap between two rows of doors, lining on either side of the hallway. The gaps without lamps are filled with banners of mythical creatures embroidered on heavy fabrics. A dark maroon carpet stretches in the middle of the hall from the end they are at the other end further away, which seems to lead to outdoors as the light there is bright. All walls and the floor seem to be built from heavy stone. It looks like a scene from a fantasy movie rather than reality.

Even though the traveling part is over they still remain closed for a second before Yunho takes a step back. He lets go of San’s hand and the latter lets go of Yunho’s coat. Each step they make - even the smallest sound - echoes around the long, empty space and for a second they remain standing in silence.

“This is the Library,” Yunho says as he turns toward the door and takes the hat off, hiding it in the mysteriously spacious pocket of his coat. “All knowledge of three realms is kept here and monitored by grim reapers as we are the closest thing of a middle ground,” he explains and San’s eyes lock on the two banners - larger than the other ones - on either side of the door depicting dark figures very similar to Yunho. Both have the long coats and hats, both for some reason have shadows of wings behind them and each is holding a spear in their hand.

As San continues to look up, Yunho takes a step closer to the door and pushes one side of it open. The door moves slowly and the sound alone shows how heavy it is, but it seems to budge easily under Yunho’s touch. It doesn’t open fully but the gap is big enough to walk through and San follows Yunho, his eyes looking at everything around him with pure interest. At least he is no longer scared after the cafe.

They enter probably the largest room San has ever seen and his mouth falls slightly open. The ceiling of the room are as high as a decent church tower, maybe even two stacked on top of each other, and glowing in white, illuminating the whole space. Bookshelves, probably three times Yunho’s height, stand in neat rows along a carpeted pathway in the middle of the room on the same stone floor as outside. Each row of shelves is separated by a reading stand facing the middle of the room. 

“Wow,” San gasps quietly, but the echo of the room throws his small exhale around the walls and he quickly covers his mouth with his hands. He looks at Yunho, who looks even darker in the bright illuminated space. He’s looking around the isles, obviously searching for something, as he slowly walks forward, his boots oddly making no noise while San even heard his own jacket rustling.

“Make way, make way!” a voice suddenly shakes the silence of the room, resonating around and between the bookshelves. A man wearing an all-black attire rushes out from behind a bookshelf with a pile of books probably as tall as the man himself in his hands. The pile sways and collapses right below San’s feet as the man enters the middle of the room.

“Aigoo!” he exclaims loudly and throws his hands in the air in a very theatrical manner, which flusters the blond for a second, but he still stoops down and starts picking up the books and putting them into several smaller piles.

“How clumsy of me,” the man exclaims again and squats down as well. His hair is deep russet brown, framing a very kind and warm face with high cheek-bones and puffy almond-shaped eyes. His outfit is very similar to Yunho’s, only instead of a coat, it is a well-tailored jacket paired with a button-down shirt and this time two black feathers hanging around his neck. 

“Ahhaaa,” the man jumps to his feet as San reaches for a particularly large book with a gem worked into the cover. The moment his hands touch it shines brightly and in surprise, the blond lets go of it.

“Wonderful,” he claps his hands once and takes the book himself. “Oh, hello, hyung,” he says casually as Yunho walks to them. “Test complete. No demonic presence. Rather a celestial one,” he says as a matter of fact and continues to pile books in one large tower again.

“I knew that even without your test,” Yunho sighs and picks up one of the book piles San has made while the human takes the other following his example.

“I still have to check everyone who enters,” the man retorts picking the book tower he made with one hand, outstretching his other and welcoming the stack from Yunho. He turns to San, who looks more than just confused but still places the books on top.

“You could do it less dramatically, you know,” Yunho sighs and follows the man with his eyes as he walks across the main aisle into a gap between bookshelves. “That’s the Librarian,” the reaper turns to San who is just silently looking at the same direction, eyes wide. “He protects all knowledge kept here and probably knows the most out of all reapers,” he explains.

“I have a name,” a voice comes from the bookshelves and Yunho lets out another sigh. It’s not an annoyed one, more endeared one than anything.

“Librarian Jongho,” he says with a faint smile and shakes his head the full-on smiling face of the Librarian appears from a shadow, but of a completely different row of shelves.

“That’s right!” he smiles and walks to the center of the room again. “So, what has brought you here today and did you bring me apples?” he stands right in front of Yunho, looking up at the taller man. 

“Sorry, didn’t have time for apples,” Yunho reaches in his pocket and takes out the notebook, opening it at a certain page again. The Librarian takes it and closely looks at the pages bound together with black leather covers. His face slowly forms a frown - a rather angry one - as he hands the notebook back to Yunho.

“Follow me,” he instructs looking first at the reaper and then at San. “Both of you, please,” he adds and sharply turns left, marching straight into an aisle between two shelves. When between the insanely tall wooden shelves one can truly grasp how long and packed they are. Book backs of various sizes, colors and seemingly languages standing side by side neatly.

“Third row, 15th book in section Z18,” Jongho murmurs under his nose as he counts along with the books and stops, apparently, at the coordinate he set. “No, row four maybe,” he looks up, his eyes following along the spine of the books. Only now San notices that one of the feathers is glowing with a light gold hue. 

“I see, row 5, 15 and Z18,” he continues murmuring, his eyes matching the same golden glow the feather has. “Hyung, assistance, please,” he turns to Yunho, the golden light from his eyes slowly fading. The tallest of the three walks over and picks out a book from a shelf higher above.

“This should do the trick. We will leave you alone while you run the test on your notebook,” Jongho looks at San, smiling a very welcoming but almost sinister smile at the same time. “San will help me organize the newly delivered books, right?” he asks and the blond can just nod before looking at Yunho completely confused. He doesn’t even remember being introduced to the lively Librarian, but he could have just made the name out from the notebook, right?

“It’s safe to go with him, especially here,” he just barely smiles but that eases San’s mind and he follows the Librarian out of the aisle and into the next one. As he looks back he sees how Yunho takes his notebook and places it on the reading stand, the book he picked from the shelf right next to it.

“We can’t really help him. Each reaper must test their own notebook with no distractions,” Jongho explains to San who is still looking back. “I believe your presence could neutralize whatever is wrong with it and give no answers,” he adds and stops at the pile of books he carried earlier.

“How?” is the only logical question San can ask. He is confused more than ever before. As if taking in the fact he has been kind of hanging out with an angel of death or that his life has been in danger more times in the past week than any other time is not enough. The Librarian doesn’t really look at him, his eyes glowing faintly again, as well as the feather around his neck, as he looks through the books.

“It is hard to explain, but if the book you held before made a correct reading, which it always does, you have celestial ancestry,” he speaks rather casually moving some books around to put a new one inside the row. “Which means what we call light - all good in the world - concentrates on you. It’s a wonderful gift actually,” he continues and his golden eyes meet San’s for a second before looking past him. For the latter’s surprise a ladder, attached to the shelf, slides pass him right into Jongho’s outreached hand.

“And how is that even possible?” the explanation doesn’t help San much. He observes the Librarian picking up a stack of books in one hand and climbing up the ladder putting them in their respectful places.

“The short explanation - one of your parents used to be an angel and passed the divine light to you,” he indeed explains shortly climbing even higher. “That doesn’t make a lot of sense, right?” he looks down with a smile and San shakes his head.

“There are many creatures living around the three main realms. The three realms, respectively, are heaven, earth, and the underworld. Each has a controlling race - heaven has angels, earth has humans and underworld has demons. A very common concept spread in the human world as well,” he tells as he climbs down again to look through the books on the ground again.

“Between all these three worlds, between the living and the dead is a large shadow of seemingly nothing, that is where angels of death or reapers reside. There are quite a few of us,” he picks up the book San held earlier, the one that glowed bright, and sits down on the floor, motioning San to do the same. The cover has the same carvings as the entry door of the library.

“Can you guess why we are angels of death?” he asks and points at the reaper, the same as one of the banners outside, on the cover of the book.

“You… were once angels,” San makes a logical conclusion and Jongho nods.

“This,” he takes the feather around his neck between his fingers, “is the last feather of our wings. As long as we have it, we are reapers, but if we lose it we might either disappear or turn into demons. I have two only because one belongs to the Library,” he lets the feathers to fall back down, the silver chain gleaming from the white light coming from the ceiling.

“There are many reasons why we “fall” and become part of eternal shadows. Yunho can tell a lot about that. He’s been gone far longer than I have,” Jongho says with a sad smile before perking back up and continuing his educational lecture. It seemed like he really enjoyed it.

“We have a lot of duties as we are the most neutral force there is. We take care of souls, leading them to an afterlife, we settle disputes and capture those who violate laws. We are almost like the police of the military,” he puts the book aside. “Now, regarding your family - angels and the reapers are the only two kinds who can give up immortality and their duties to become human, as we stem from the same celestial source. So one of your parents must have given up wings to be human. It’s a lot easier for them than for reapers as we have used our chance to become something else already once. In our lifetimes as reapers, we can earn wishes, granted to us by a higher power and than can be used to become human.” 

“I am sorry, but this is so, so complicated,” San admits, shaking his head and making the Librarian laugh. He is no fool and he understands the hidden basis of the world he has been living in for a good 20 years, but fully grasping the concept of angels and demons is not an easy task.

“No worries. It is a lot of information. I am sorry if it’s overwhelming,” he smiles and San shakes his head.

“It’s very interesting and it maybe explains a lot but I guess today has been too much already - almost dying, meeting angles of death, coming here. It’s a bit much. I can’t fully grasp it but I would want to hear more,” San smiles in return, looking straight at Jongho and the latter stares back for a second - wide-eyed, blank-faced and blinking rapidly a few times.

“Wow. Now I get it,” he nods slowly. “Why you mean so much to him. It is so obvious,” he murmurs and San is about to ask what he means with it when a bright flash of red light casts a crimson hue over the whole library.   


Both of them jump to their feet looking towards the main aisle. Jongho doesn’t say a word out loud and rushes forward first, cursing under his breath, running to where Yunho has been the whole time. San is right behind him, the backpack he has been holding on his shoulder dropping to the floor. Right before they exit the aisle there is another flash of red and a loud yell rings in the air and San’s heart sinks as he pushes forward. 


	5. - 5 -

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case you are tweeting about the story, use #YourLightFF !!! I will check it once in a while! :D

The reading stand is in full blaze - wild flames swallowing up the entire wooden stand along with the black notebook on it. The other book lays on the floor further away, smoke slowly rising from it, it’s one side blackened with a slowly dying out flame but overall it looks unharmed in comparison. San’s eyes, however, don’t focus on the book but looks for Yunho, who is nowhere to be seen at first. 

He finds the tall man sitting on the floor further behind the still blazing fire, breathing heavy and holding his left hand close to his chest. “Yunho!” he calls out and is about to move forward, his heart in his stomach, but Jongho’s hand on his shoulder stops him. Both feathers around his neck glow in pale silvery light, a breeze coming in the library seemingly from nowhere swirls around the fire and sealing it off until it’s completely out.

“Now go,” he says and San doesn’t have to hear it twice as he rushes past the stand that has turned into charcoal and kneels next to Yunho immediately. He doesn’t even know him for that long or that well but at the back of his chest a fear for him takes over San’s actions. He owns Yunho his life, doesn’t he? But, perhaps it isn’t just that.

“Are you okay? What happened?” he inspects the man. His clothes seem almost smoking from direct contact with fire, eyes closed as he calms down from the sudden impact of the explosive fire. His eyes landing on the hand Yunho holding close. He doesn’t need to be a doctor or a genius to tell it’s burnt all red, raw and pulsating - even the sleeves of the coat look burned to charcoal by the intense heat.

“I’m okay,” Yunho takes a deep breath and smiles faintly. “Not the best day at work to be honest.” He tries to joke but San can just frown at his attempt as he doesn’t feel like laughing at all. 

“Which bastard wired that thing to the point it would self destruct upon testing!” Jongho rages still standing at the burnt stand, the other book in his hand. Everything - from the notebook to the stand - is nothing more but a pile of black charcoal barely resembling what it was originally. “And how absolutely insane must you be to prioritize this piece of paper?” he looks straight at Yunho, shaking the book in his hand. His burnt hand makes more sense now, he must have pulled the book out of the flame.

“I got burnt already when it caught fire. No difference,” Yunho replies and takes a deep breath before attempting to stand up on his feet. Without a second thought, San helps him up by his good arm and holds onto him to provide support in case the man would lose his balance.

“You are absolutely insane, do you know that?” Jongho shakes his head and stomps off, murmuring under his breath. 

“How can I help? What can I do?” San looks at Yunho’s hand, as he is still helping the man to stand, and then at the reapers face, the later just shaking his head. 

“It will heal on its own after a while. Would be instant, but it's a flame literally from hell, so,” he smiles but San can’t force himself to smile back at all, his heart still beating like mad in his chest. The weather this is very common or not it shouldn’t be taken so lightly.

“Why would you do that?” he whispers. So much has happened to him and around him, the less than a few hours and everything just keeps piling on more and more. His head is a complete mess and the rapid breathing in his chest almost makes his ears ring. Fainting almost seems like an option at this point just to restart his own brain.

“That book is the only way to even try and find out who is doing all of this and to find a way to keep you safe. It’s irreplaceable as all books here,” he smiles a gentle smile at the human who is going through so many emotions. “I am not as insane as I might seem,” he says and starts walking forward, San still holding on to his arm perhaps more for himself at this point than Yunho.

Meanwhile, Jongho has returned at the end of the aisle, holding the book close and looking at Yunho directly. “I reported everything,” he says with a serious face but there is a slightly upset pout. “They are thankful for protecting a precious piece of scriptures,” he says almost unwillingly, his concern for Yunho obviously much stronger than the one for the books, despite his role as the Librarian. “The instructions, for now, are simple - protect him,” he continues and looks at San with almost pity.

“Yeah, that was predictable,” Yunho sighs. “So it will be a waiting game on when they will reveal themselves and make a move,” he continues walking by the incinerated reading stand, San sill close to him. “Will I be issued another notebook?”

“Not for now,” Jongho sighs again and breaks off the corner of the charcoal stand. “It takes too long and it is not said it will connect to San’s destiny. Requesting him being tied to your new notebook would take time, again, and we don’t know how much of it do we have,” he throws the burned piece of wood on the floor.

“So how am I supposed to keep him out of danger?” Yunho frowns and San’s eyes turn to him and then to Jongho who after these long minutes of complete seriousness finally cracks a smile again.

“That you will figure out yourselves,” he almost smirks. “Now get going before the investigation team arrives,” he urges. Yunho shakes his head and starts walking to the door they came through earlier. The effect of the sudden fire blast seems to fade, his stance more stable, hand reducing in redness, so San feels it’s okay to let go of the arm he has been clasping onto for the past minutes.

“Thank you for the things you managed to tell me. I hope, maybe, you will be able to finish your story one day,” San stays a bit behind and bows slightly to Jongho with a smile on his lips. “And sorry for the mess. It kind of happened because of me,” he looks straight at the Librarian who looks at him the way he did earlier when they sat between the book isles. 

“Well, ain’t that crazy old man lucky,” he murmurs and as San tilts his head to ask what he means with it, Jongho shakes his head and returns the smile. “I’m glad I was able to help you understand all this a bit more. Do visit if you have the chance, but please bring some apples,” he waves with a smile and San waves back before rushing after Yunho, grabbing his bag on the way.

“He’s cute,” he says reaching the taller man in the hallway, observing how the heavy wooden door closes, Jongho’s silhouette walking around the main aisle, all alone as he was before they came.

“He’s cursed,” Yunho says with deep sadness in his voice. “He can’t leave the Library more than few meters each direction, so he is cursed to forever remain there,” he continues and pulls his hat out of the pocket of his coat, his burned hand already well enough to move. “We all are cursed here, each in our own way,” he adds before taking a deep breath and reaching out his hand to San.

San looks back at the closed door of the Library. Cursed. All reapers are cursed. 

There are countless questions raging in San’s head, more than he has ever had and he found himself to be quite curious in general. He takes Yunho’s hand and steps as close to the grim reaper as he can, his eyes looking for Yunho’s in the shadow of his wide-edge hat for some sort of comfort. He feels his own expression fall as the incredible sadness in the eyes of the reaper reaches him. The questions add in layers and as everything around them turns teal and then black, San decides to slowly get answers to all of them from no one else but Yunho.

They emerge from a lamppost shadow near a very simple apartment complex. Night has already fallen over the town and everything is lit by the street lamps and light falling from windows of homes along the road. The sky is cloudy and not a single star peaks through, making it pitch dark where the light doesn’t reach. 

“It didn’t seem that long,” San murmurs as he lets go of Yunho’s hand and takes a step away from the reaper. As he says it his bag starts to vibrate, his phone going off with countless notifications. He throws it over his shoulder - the bag itself against his chest - and fishes out his phone, the screen lighting up each second. The last thing that comes through is a real-time video call which San picks up.

“Hey, Wooyoungie,” he says with a smile, trying to make the situation better, but a raspy, voice yelling from the screen does not want to take it lightly.

“Don’t you ‘hey’ me, Choi San! Where the hell have you been the whole day? Better yet - where has your phone been the whole time? Did you even see how many messages I sent you? The missed calls? What is going on? And where are you right now?” a concerned, high pitched and raspy voice blasts from the phone's speaker, matching the concerned face of a young man with dark hair and full, pouty lips. “I was about the call the police and your grandparents,” he continues and San has to look away from the phone, his eyes catching Yunho - his hat still on - standing a step to the side and observing the neighborhood.

“My phone turned off because of the cafe roof falling in and I spent the day in service trying to get it to work,” San lies swiftly. This is the best excuse he can come up with. Traveling to another dimension with an angel of death would probably not calm WooYoung down at all.

“What cafe roof?! Are you okay?” Wooyoung only grows louder, his eyes wide and San realizes he doesn’t know about the cafe. He doesn’t know a lot of what has happened and San feels bad even though he hasn’t had the time to talk to him.

“I will write everything to you later, okay? I want to go home first and then I can explain,” San tries to calm down his worried friend with a smile and a sigh echoes around the empty street so loudly Yunho turns to him.

“You’re not in any kind of trouble, right? Do I need to come over?” Wooyoung sounds a bit calmer, but still unmistakably worried. He has a good reason to be after all. San doesn’t have a large track record of getting in trouble, but his kind nature had gotten him into difficult situations once or twice.

“I’m fine. Really. I will tell you everything but a bit later,” he continues convincing until the man on the other end of the line gives in.

“Alright, but even if you are about to fall asleep or something message me before, got it? So I know you are home and safe,” San can just nod to the request before saying a quick goodbye and hanging up. He lets out a long and shaky breath squeezing his eyes shut for a moment. This day is absolutely too much for him to handle at this point.

“Could you at least take off that hat,” he frowns as he looks at Yunho standing two steps to the side, still in his full dark attire. “I don’t have the strength to deal with people thinking I’m talking to a lampost,” he feels the last energy finally leaving him at this point and he absolutely exhausted.

“Sorry,” Yunho quickly takes off the hat, hiding it in the mysterious pockets of his coat. “I tried to land us as close to your home as I could. There’s a limit how close I can shadow walk to places,” he explains and takes the two steps needed closer to San. “Shall we go?” he asks closely inspecting San’s features. “Are you feeling okay?”

“I am too tired and my head is full of questions. I almost died 3 times in a week as it seems, a nice guy I met is not only a grim reaper but also part-times as my guardian angel; I have a worried best friend who knows nothing and to whom I can’t tell this and, also, demons are tailing me,” he lists monotony, looking at nothing on the pavement. “I don’t know how I feel,” he looks up at Yunho and a layer of feeling bad for the concern in the tall man’s eyes adds to the mix. “Sorry,” he looks away again.

“Don’t be sorry, please. It’s a lot,” Yunho says in the most soothing tone he can manage. For a second he hesitates before putting his arm around San’s shoulders. He has the feeling that man would fall apart otherwise. “Let’s get you home and then you can rest and sleep on all these thoughts, ok?” the reaper is doing his very best to physically and mentally hold together the man who is finally grasping the reality he is now, everything rolling over his consciousness as an avalanche. And, perhaps, quite selfishly Yunho feels a pull in his own chest as the brightens San radiate dims down.

“Yeah. Getting home sounds nice,” he nods and looks up at Yunho again, just the faintest smile on his lips, the smallest sparkle of that incredible light dancing in his tired eyes. “Thanks,” he lets out a small sigh. “Let’s go.”

Yunho nods and lets his arm to fall from San’s shoulders, however, he remains right next to the man. It’s a very quiet walk for around a block through the dimly lit streets. There’s no one around and everything is perfectly quiet if not distant cars and their own footsteps on the sidewalk. The air is fresh and chilly but in the right amounts to be pleasant and help clear one's head.

Though it is a quiet walk, they both by this point have realized that without a notebook and the danger looming close the only way to keep San safe is for Yunho to remain close. It doesn’t have to be said out loud - despite the stressful day they both understood it very well.

Their walk comes to a stop in front of a very simple apartment complex. Three floors with all doors facing the street, 5 on each floor. Open hallways lined by deep burgundy railing matching the color on all doors, a staircase connecting each floor. Each door had a matching mailbox next to it, just a few of the doors standing out with an ornament on them. It is probably one of the most well-kept houses around and despite its quite old design it looked inviting even from the outside. 

San walks to the building and straight to the staircase, Yunho right behind him. He stops at the third door on the second floor and once more goes through his bag until he finds the keys. Both locks on the door open one after another and the door follows, allowing the pair to enter the apartment.

San shuffles in slowly. He places his bag on the floor and kicks off his shoes and slides into simple, sky blue slippers. Almost lethargically he leans down and takes another pair of the same kind of slippers from a shoe stand and places it down before putting his shoes aside. He stands up, hangs his jacket on the hanger to his right, picks up his bag and walks from the small hallway to the next room, turning on the light.

Yunho is about to take a step in too but a sharp gaze stops him. San is looking over his shoulder with eyes narrowed and a serious pout on his lips. “Boots and coat stay there,” he says very sternly but there is a bit of a playful spark to his words. “If you can’t remove them, you are staying there too,” he adds narrowing his eyes even more and waiting for Yunho’s actions.

The reaper lets out a long sigh. “You must know that I will feel very weird for a while now,” he explains before taking off his coat and hanging it next to San’s jacket. He goes down on one knee to untie his boots, all the time feeling San’s eyes on him. He places them aside and slides into the slippers placed down for him. The sky blue looks ridiculously bright with the full black outfit he is still sporting and San, after the longest time, lets out a small laugh.

“The coat is cool, but you look better like this,” he adds with a playful smile back on his features and continues walking into the living room. He meant what he said. Without the long coat, Yunho had a completely different aura about him - more warm and welcoming. Maybe San is just tired but the black button-down made Yunho’s broad shoulders stand out, tucked in shirt giving his waist a nice accent and without the coat, his body proportions were even more impressive. Maybe San is just tired but the more approachable Yunho looks the more attractive he is, and he started high on the attractive scale as it is. Maybe he is just tired. Maybe.

San shakes head and turns left to ender his bedroom while Yunho walks past the door and looks around the living room. An ashy grey sofa filled with colorful pillows stands against the wall next to the bedroom door facing a large TV screen. A small coffee table is placed between the two, holding what looks like remotes, some magazines and game controllers, the console or maybe even two peeking out from near the TV along with a stack of games. Small trinkets of various fantasy characters are taking up space on shelves next to the TV along with a couple of small photo frames, but nothing looks tacky. 

The kitchen is a small room to the right from the hallway. Yunho just peaks in - sink, cupboards, stove, countertop, fridge, microwave - all in soft yellow tones. Few dishes here and there, misplaced wrappers on the counter and a half-empty mug signifying a quick rushing out of the house. Everything is kept simple and if not some personal items it would look like a model apartment.

“Are you hungry?” San’s voice starless Yunho and he turns around to face the man. He has changed into simple, black tracksuit bottoms and a t-shirt with random lettering on it. If when they met outside he gave off an image of a cool but bright young man, then now he looked more casual but in a way even cuter than before.

“Oh, no. Grim reapers don’t eat,” Yunho shakes his head and San pulls a confused face as he walks past him into the small kitchen, turning on the light. Yunho remains in the door aisle, leaning against it and observes how the human cleans up the mess he has left, downing the content of the mug before putting into the sink.

“Wait,” he turns to Yunho, “Your friend ate at the cafe tho. And you had coffee,” the confusion on his face is very clear and it is quite endearing so the reaper can’t keep back a smile. He would have preferred someone more knowledgeable like Jongho explaining the details of reapers life, but he doesn’t have that option here.

“We can eat and drink, but we don’t need it,” he explains and San slightly tilts his head, listening to the clumsy explanation. “If we eat it’s usually to blend in with the crowd around us or sometimes simply because we miss the taste. But it doesn't give us anything.”

“I see. So, Jongho was asking for apples because he misses the taste?” he asks shuffling to the fridge and taking out what looks like a drinkable yogurt or flavored milk. He rests against the counter and looks at Yunho as he sips on the drink. 

“Yes. Sometimes the things we crave carry meaning from our human lives, sadly if it’s something very specific we can’t get it after a very long time anymore,” Yunho crosses his arms on his stomach and leans his head against the doorpost. “So often we want things we can’t get,” he adds, his eyes meeting San’s and it takes a moment before San looks away.

“If you don’t mind, how old are you? Because times seems to be of importance,” he throws the empty container away and leans back against the counter.

“Well, physically around 20. But actually, as a reaper… Hmmm,” he presses his lips together and hums looking at the ceiling, calculating. “Maybe close to 300? So around 320? I haven’t really paid attention to that to that in a while,” he turns to San who is staring at him wide-eyed.

“Physically?” he blinks a few times and pushes out a follow-up question.

“When we become reapers - or anything apart from human - we acquire the physical attributes of the prime time of our lives. The best version of ourselves kind of,” he knows his explanation is clumsy but San nods, seemingly understanding what the reaper is trying to say.

“I shouldn’t have asked, at least not today,” the nodding turns into shaking of the head and he looks at Yunho. “How, after everything that has happened in one day, do you expect me to understand you are 320 years old and don’t eat?”

“I can add the fact that I don’t sleep either. Just like with eating, I can - but I don’t need to,” he says and almost laughs as San shakes his head again, hiding his face in his hands.

“You don’t sleep,” he looks at Yunho, his light hair a fluffy mess on top of his head. Yunho nods and San just sighs loudly. “You know what. You might not need to sleep, but I know for a fact I need it now,” he stands up and Yunho straightens out in the door aisle too.

With another sigh, San walks past him, stops and turns around. “Let me guess, you don’t shower either. You can, but you don’t need to because you don’t sweat or some sort of magic like that,” he means the words he says fully sarcastically, but as he sees a quite guilty smile on Yunho’s face he sighs again, turns on his heel and marches to his room closing the door. 

This time Yunho can’t help but laugh. He turns off the lights in the kitchen and walks to the living room, turning off the main light there too. He walks past the sofa and takes the rather small, square puff chair from the corner where he had noticed it earlier and places it next to the living room window. Before sitting down he closes one side of the dark teal curtains, pushes the chair closer to the wall and sits down. His back rests against the wall legs fully stretched out as he gazes out the window. This would probably be his guardpost. 

The door of San’s room open slowly and the blond mess of hair peaks out. “I am not angry. I’m cranky because I’m tired,” he as if gives an excuse for his cute mini tantrum. All Yunho can do is shakes his head with a smile. How one man could be perfectly precious? 

San fully emerges from the room when he notices the ‘look out station’ Yunho has made. “That’s not comfortable, right?” he frowns and walks back in his room. The reaper can hear quiet apologizing to something before San comes back out, carrying a beige lounge chair. He gets stuck in the door aisle but pushes through right as Yunho gets up to help. He carries the chair to the window and ignoring Yunho’s outstretched hands keeps the chair in his hands while moving the puff out of the way with his foot, putting the chair in its place.

“Better,” he breathes out and looks at Yunho. There is a more lively smile on his face and that calms down the slightly worried ache in the reapers chest.

“It was fine before, but thank you,” the reaper returns the smile and for a minute, maybe less or maybe more, they remain standing in the middle of the living room, simply staring at each other, San being the first one to snap out.

“Ummm. Goodnight,” he stammers a bit his eyes darting around the room now.

“Goodnight,” Yunho replies, his eyes, however, refusing to leave the blond.

“Yeah,” San lets out and shuffles to his room quickly. He blames the strange sensation he feels on being tired and having too much information being presented to him in one day. He closes the door behind him a bit too loudly and after a second opens it again, peeking his head out around the corner, meeting Yunho’s gaze. He has sat down in the chair, the light from the window falling over him and he absolutely doesn’t look real for a second, so San has to stop staring. He has to. He waves awkwardly and a soon as the reaper waves back he disappears in his room and flops on the bed in hope to have some sort of rest.


	6. - 6 -

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case you are tweeting about the story, use #YourLightFF !!! I will check it once in a while! :D

San wakes up at an unknown time for him. The sun is in full strength outside, forcing its rays through the closed curtains and even through the blanket he has pulled over his head and the pillow he has pressed his face in. Slowly, like a sloth, he removes the blanket off his head but remains buried in the pillow - his arms and legs wrapped around it. He has very little understanding what day or date it is as he might have slept for days, but the events that made him this tired are still as vivid as when he went to bed.

The cafe roof falling in. All this knowledge of angels and demons and reapers. The undeniable danger he is in for some unknown reason. And, in the middle of this mad mix - Yunho. Meeting him that very first morning was already strange, to say the least, but back then San didn’t give it much thought. Neither he did the second or third, it all changing on that bench in the park.

San buries his face even deeper into the pillow and lets out a long breath. Maybe he was dreaming this whole time. Maybe what he is remembering now is nothing more but leftovers of a dream. He reaches out to the nightstand and flaps his hand around until he gets to his phone. He brings the screen closer to his still half-shut eyes. 11:30 am says the screen and he is admittedly happy it’s not too late. A message from Wooyoung is the first one greeting him between social media notifications.

‘Good! Sleep well and message me when you get up. Don’t make me more worried, ok?’ it reads followed by a bunny emoticon that says ‘I love you’. Right, he texted his friend he is going to sleep. It probably wasn’t just a dream if Wooyoung is genuinely worried. 

Being a bit more awake he types a response ‘Good morning. I will call you later.’ and tops it off with colorful heart spam. He puts the phone away again, social media not seeming very inviting or interesting this morning. As slowly as it is physically possible he slides out of the bed and out of habit waves at the corner where the designated plushie chair usually stands a small shock waking him up more seeing his ‘precious kids’ on the floor. The shock is short-lived as he remembers giving the chair to Yunho.

He shuffles to the bathroom, his messy bed-hair nest being the final thing that wakes him up completely. Brushing his teeth, washing his face, showering - all were everyday routine things but they seemed odd this morning. All of his limbs feel heavy, his head still a mess and reality don’t seem fully real. He doesn’t even want to think of what Jongho told about his parents, about why this is possibly happening to him. 

Cold or hot the shower doesn’t really help. He throws back on the same clothes he had on before and leaves a towel around his neck before grabbing his phone and sliding out of his room. He looks to the left where the window is. The curtains are fully open, the light filling the room, and a figure, without a surprise, is still sitting where it was yesterday.

Yunho is comfortable leaning back in the chair, his legs half-way crossed - ankle resting on his knee. He seems to be tapping a beat on his other knee, his long fingers dancing along the black fabric of his jeans as if he’s playing a piano. In direct sunlight his eyes have more of a warm cinnamon tone than the deep chocolate shade they usually were, gazing at the street through the window. The rays of sun play in his jet black hair and for a second San could swear he sees actual tiny bright yellow or rather golden creatures jumping around his locks. He blinks a couple of times and shakes his head. He is in no way ready to deal with anything more than already has on his hands.

“Good morning,” San finally greets the reaper and the latter looks at him with the softest smile on his face. San feels like a fool - a very messy, hair dripping wet kind of fool - and he doesn’t understand why. He can only blame it on information overload in his head.

“Good morning,” Yunho replies, sitting up straight in the chair and putting both of his legs on the floor. “Did you sleep well?” he asks, his eyes directly looking at the young man before him who looks a bit more like a lost kid - eyes wide looking at Yunho, hair still wet and dripping on the towel around his neck - just standing in one spot as if he has seen a ghost, which is probably one of the few things they definitely should avoid.

“Yeah. It was okay,” he replies with a quick nod and looks at Yunho for a moment longer before letting out a deep breath and looking at things around his own living room. “So, I assume you don’t want breakfast, right?” he turns back to Yunho who shakes his head. “Right. Maybe just coffee? So I could feel like an ok host,” he continues.

“Sure. Coffee is fine,” Yunho smiles and notes how cute the fidgeting of the human is. Maybe it is because there’s just the two of them here and it’s a private space for him. Maybe it has settled in more - what Yunho truly is - and it’s his way of keeping a distance. A very endearing way nonetheless.

“Ok. Black, right?” San confirms and after Yunho nods he shuffles to the kitchen where he takes a deep breath, resting his hands on the counter. He couldn’t explain to himself why he felt this weird. As if something that isn’t himself has taken over him. He knew how liking someone felt, but he also knew that nothing ever happened instantly. It would be ridiculous anyway.

He fills the electric kettle with water and while it comes to a boil takes two mugs from the cupboard. He frowns at the very basic instant coffee he adds to each. Yunho doesn’t even need this and he is just being polite but it would be nice to serve him something actually good. It’s a good instant coffee - good enough to wake him up in the morning at least - but it’s not great. With a frown still on his face, he adds sugar to his mug and grabs the kettle as soon as it clicks. The aroma of coffee swirls around the kitchen and the living room too. He stacks up a quick sandwich for himself and places the plate with it on his mug before walking back to the living room.

Yunho’s head turns to San immediately as he walks back. He goes straight to the couch and places both mugs down. One is placed closer to Yunho - it’s a simple white mug but it’s decorated with a small comic strip of a dog chasing a butterfly, falling into a pond, getting out, shaking the water off and carrying on to chase a dragonfly. San has a matching mug - his shows a cat watching the dog fall in the lake while sleeping on a bench next to it, waking up only when the dog shakes off the water next to the cat. Simple but incredibly cute, yet somewhat still classy in a very adorable way.

As San sits down on the sofa, fitting perfectly between the colorful pillows, and reaches for the TV remote it is clear Yunho is silently invited to join him there. He stands up from his watch-chair and places himself on the couch in a decent but not awkward distance from San. The coffee in the mug is hot but not too hot for drinking so the reaper goes ahead to take a sip. He feels San’s eyes on him instantly and looks back at the man who has stopped browsing the channels on an anime show. His sandwich is in his hand as he looks at Yunho.

“Is it okay?” he asks with a bit of uncertainty in his voice.

“Yes, it’s fine. Thank you,” Yunho nods and demonstrates by taking another sip. It is absolutely not the best coffee he has had in his very long life, but it has its own special charm - maybe it’s important who makes it.

They silently watch through an episode or two, maybe three or even four of One Piece, as the ending and title screen announce. It’s cozy - the sun is warming up the room, the scent of coffee still in the air. San gets more comfortable on the couch, lifting his feet up and sets in a half lying down pose, hugging a purple pillow while resting his head on a stack of green and mint blue, his head closer to Yunho’s spot. The reaper, being a large black spot between the yellow, red, purple, blue and pink, the sky blue slipper being the only connecting element between him and the couch, rests his elbow on the armrest of the couch, his head in his hand as he observes the mischievous pirate adventures. 

They both laugh when something comedic happens and once in a while San comments on a character or a past event that affects the series. It’s a perfectly calm morning or early afternoon already and it is almost hard to believe after all the madness happening yesterday. A commercial break settles in between the series marathon and San sits up making Yunho look at him. He mutes the TV and fiddles around a bit. He still keeps the pillow in his grip and looks at the coffee table or the empty mug or rather anything but Yunho.

“So, what is the plan?” he addresses the question to which he only partially knows the answer to. “I understand you need to be around me just in case anything happens, but what does that imply for me?” he finally turns to the reaper who has to take in a deep breath before speaking.

“Whatever you want to imply. If you want to go out - to university, part-time job or anywhere I will go with you, however, in my full work uniform,” he replies and a visible frown settles on San’s face.

“That includes the hat?” Yunho nods to that and San frowns even more. “So if I would talk to you people would think I am talking to empty air,” Yunho nods again and as frowning any harder is not an option San just sighs. “Promise you will reply honestly,” he looks straight into the cinnamon-colored eyes.

“I promise.”

“Is it easier to keep me safe here or when I would move around the town like I usually do?” he asks seriously. The blond knows the answer himself and he knows it very well but he needs affirmation.

“Here it would definitely be easier for now, until we get a notice on why this is happening and who is doing it,” Yunho replies and San nods. Exactly what he thought.

“Another question - did something already happen last night that I don’t know off?” he asks very seriously and from Yunho’s face alone he can tell something did.

“There were shadow trackers outside. They are a kind of demonic animals that track down whoever they need to. They were walking outside during the night,” the reaper admits. “They as well as lower-ranked demons will stay away from any place where a reaper is. Like thugs staying away from the police. Only those who have actual powers would attempt something. Most I can deal with myself.”

“So, they know where we are,” San looks away from the reaper for a second and then straight back at him. “Bottom line - staying here is probably safer for me and for anyone we would be around in public, correct?” 

“Yes, but I don’t want you to feel as if you are imprisoned,” Yunho wants to continue but San cuts him off.

“I know. I will treat this as a vacation,” he smiles with the bright sparkles of his light mixing with the rays of the sun. “I will call the fruit-shop ahjussi and my part-time job. I can e-mail my professors and catch up with what I can online. As for my friend Wooyoung - he will demand to see me when I tell him I will stay home for a while, but one pizza night won’t harm him, me or you.”

“I… agree with everything with everything but why am I involved in that last part?” Yunho frowns a little and this time it’s San who laughs, his brightest smile gracing his features and it once more puts Yunho’s heart at ease.

“Because I will not allow you to stand in a corner in that ridiculous outfit nor I will kick you out. Wooyoung’s nice. A bit loud but nice,” he says and puts the pillow away, taking his phone from the coffee table. “I almost forgot!” he exclaims looking at the phone screen. “I need to call him. Is that ok?.” Yunho can barely say ‘of course’ as he settles more comfortably in the pile of pillows and angles his hand for a video call. His energy seems to be back, at least for a moment. Knowing about what would happen for now probably helped. 

Yunho takes the chance to move from the very comfortable couch. He gathers the mugs and the plate and takes them to the kitchen. He hears a small ‘thank you’ before the conversation starts.

“Took you long enough,” Wooyung frown on the other end of the video call. “I am on a break now, so we can talk for a bit. You’re lucky,” he scowls but it is obvious he is still concerned over any other emotion.

“Sorry,” San means it when he says it. It felt odd to keep Wooyoung out of the loop when it came to anything regarding his life. “I will tell you what happened, so listen, ok?” he receives a nod from the dark-haired man and slides down in the pillows a bit more, pressing his lips together and humming trying to find the best way to tell at least half-truth.

“I mentioned yesterday about the cafe, right? Well, I was meeting a friend there and while we were chatting something happened upstairs and the top floor caved in,” as he says this he sees Wooyung’s eyes grow wide and his face incredibly serious. “I am physically okay. The friend pushed me out of the way so I didn’t get hurt. My phone was out of order the whole day tho,” he continues despite the atypically serious expression of his friend.

“Now… I am a bit shaken because of it, I can’t put it any other way,” he is not lying at all. He is definitely shaken because of it and many other things too. “So, I think I will have a moment of everything to get back to my senses,” he lets out a breath. For a second his eyes shoot up at Yunho who walks past to the chair next to the window before returning to the screen.

“San… is everything truly okay? Are you in any kind of trouble?” Wooyung’s face is still dead serious, probably even more than before.

“I’m fine. I just need to rest and…”

“Who is with you?” Wooyung’s question cuts San off mid-sentence and he stares blankly at the screen. “There was a shadow moving around behind you and you definitely looked at someone,” he continues and San is absolutely taken aback. As if trying to confirm what Wooyung said he looks around the apartment. For his surprise, his eyes scan over Yunho standing next to the window, but in his full attire, putting the hat on the very second.

“I am the one who needs to ask you if you are okay. There’s no one here, see,” San flips the camera and shows Wooyung the apartment. It all goes well until they reach the window.

“Stop!” the man on the other side of the line exclaims and for a second San’s heart sinks. What if Wooyoung could see reapers just like San? He looks at Yunho who stands frozen in the shadow next to the window, both of them too tense right now.

“You finally moved the chair to the living room,” Wooyung seems suddenly distracted from what is his goal. “Good! I have told you like 10 times people need it more than your toys.”

The phone is instantly flipped back to face San. “I will not allow you to be this disrespectful again,” he frowns at his friend. “One more sentence like that and I will cancel my invitation.”

“What invitation?” 

“I wanted to invite you over for pizza on an evening when you don’t have to work, but if you disrespect things important to me I guess…” San turns his face away from the phone towards the window, Yunho still standing in the same spot - just in case.

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry, okay?” Wooyoung almost shouts with a loud sigh right after. “Can I let you know later when I’m free?” 

“Sure,” San turns back to the screen. “Are you less worried about me now?” 

“A bit. I will stop worrying when I see you tho,” Wooyung is about to say something else but a voice off-screen calls for him. “Break is over. Talk to you later,” he waves and San does the same back before hanging up. The moment he places the phone on the coffee table he slides halfway down the coach and the pile of pillows, partially on the floor. He turns his head to Yunho who steps into the light and takes the hat off, letting out the deepest sigh.

“What would he do if he saw me?” Yunho asks, walking across the room with large strides to get rid of the coat and boots again. “I guess, rather than doing anything it would be difficult to explain,” he notes and looks at San who wiggles his way back up the couch in a more decent and comfortable position.

“Well, he would run here. Maybe call the police,” San says with his head resting on the pillows as he stares at the ceiling. “He’s very protective.”

“That’s nice, isn’t it? To have someone to look out for you?” Yunho retorts and walks back to the couch sitting down where he was sitting earlier. San pushes his lips forward in a pout and thinks for a moment before turning to Yunho with the same pout on his face, dropping it in a second.

“It is. Do you have someone who looks out for you? Because I kind of imagine this job is… lonely,” he looks straight at Yunho, his blond hair uncombed mess on his head, falling over his forehead and eyes but he just remains motionless, looking at the reaper with sincere curiosity in his eyes.

“I do,” Yunho turns a bit more towards San. “You have seen Mingi, the friend from the cafe. Also Jongho,” he lists the ‘colleagues’ he could call friends. “There’s also Seonghwa, but he gets very special tasks so he is usually busy. He has an angel looking over him and as we are close he looks after us too. There’s also Yeosang, but he is also very busy most of the time.”

“Yeosang…” San repeats the last name and looks at the ceiling for a moment again. “I have heard it somewhere,” he murmurs and then turns back to Yunho. “That’s quite a lot actually.”

“I guess it is,” Yunho nods and leans more onto the pillows. “We all come from one region and have similar stories so that brought us together,” his eyes lock with San’s and from the change of expression on his face he can tell his own has probably changed to something rather sad.

“Will you tell me yours? Not now, but in general?” San asks, his eyes not letting Yunho go from their spell.

“Yes. When the time is right, I will,” he affirms with a smile and his heart feels the joy he can’t describe when San smiles back at him. The late afternoon sun has turned a corner and no longer shines brightly into the room, but the light radiating from San fills it with light even brighter.

“Okay,” he nods and lazily reaches for the TV remote to unmute it but stops mid-reach. “I need to call ahjussi. And message my professors…” he looks at Yunho again. “I’m a bad host,” he pouts and Yunho laughs leaning back in the pillows to the point they swallow even his big frame becoming a black blob between all the colors, which on the other hand makes San laugh. It’s worth being a bit foolish sometimes, besides he hasn’t had the time or chance to be silly in a very, very long time.

“Do what you have to do. I’m fine,” he smiles before he lets his head disappear behind a purple pillow. San laughs again and that is probably the most wonderful sound to Yunho’s ears right now. He looks at the mute TV screen, following the ongoing marathon of pirate adventures and just barely pays attention to the conversation, twice as long as the one with Wooyoung, San is having. It takes a moment for the blond to convince the elderly man on the other side of the line he is ok and just needs rest.

He hears San moving to his room and not returning for good one episode’s length, probably emailing university. When he returns he turns the sound back on the TV. “Are you still ok?” he asks and Yunho raises his hand with thumbs up. San giggles again. A truly heavenly sound for Yunho’s ear. “This disguise suits you better than that black thing. You are too… funny for that serious look,” he says quickly before his steps head to the kitchen. The scent of cooking goes around the apartment and in ten minutes time, the blond is back in his spot on the couch.

San places a soda can in front of Yunho and one for himself along with a bowl of ramen. The question about the combined nutritional value of a sandwich, coffee, soda, and noodles pops into Yunho’s head but is it truly something he should mention. He decides not to. At least not today.

Finally, Yunho decides to move from his improvised pillow cocoon, the movement attracting San’s attention. The latter almost spits out his food, barely containing it in his mouth and places the bowl down on the table. As Yunho orders the pillows back on the couch, San scoots closer to him with the sweetest, dimple-blessed smile on his lips.

“Mister dark and scary grim reaper is actually a silly puppy, who knew,” he laughs as he raises his hands to the top of Yunho’s head, fixing the absolute mess of black hair. He, maybe, gets a bit too carried away rearranging the strands of hair that are so incredibly soft to the touch only a loud noise from the TV calls him back to reality. Yunho’s eyes are big and bright, looking straight at San and he feels the heat rushing to his cheeks immediately.

“All… all better,” he stammers and scoots back to his place, taking a quick sip from his soda, nearly choking.

“Thanks,” Yunho murmurs, turning to the screen, being the one who has to hold onto a pillow now just to hold onto something. He feels his ears burning up for no logical reason and opts to just stare at the TV. 

The slightly awkward air soon disappears and just like earlier they laugh at the silly characters. San gets up a few times, taking away the empty cans and bowl, and a few more times during commercial breaks but they fall back into a perfectly relaxing idle. It’s so distracting they don’t even notice how it has gotten dark behind the window.

It’s hard to tell what time it is but Yunho notices he is the only one laughing at the jokes. He looks down next to him and, of course, San has laid down just like he was in the morning and has fallen asleep.

As quietly as possible the reaper turns off the TV and closes one side of the living room curtains. He contemplates for a moment on what to do, but he decides not to be a coward for no real reason. With little effort, he scoops San up in his arms and he feels how his heart speeds up as the sleeping man immediately curls closer to him, letting out small almost whimpering sounds. He weighs close to nothing to Yunho’s mind but sends out such pleasing waves of warmth and safety they could lul even a never-sleeping reaper into dreamland.

He carries the sleeping blond to his room and carefully places him on the bed. With no other options, he pulls the other side of the blanket over him wrapping him in it. His eyes just quickly scan the room - a double bed, a desk with books and a chair, doors to the bathroom and a pile of neatly organized stuffed animals in the corner. He assumes those were the owners of the chair he is using. 

San lets out another whimper in his sleep and pulls the blanket tighter around himself. There is an urge to pet the blond nest of hair, but Yunho decides not to. He needs boundaries - for himself and for San. At least while he could still keep them as it will potentially get harder.

He walks out of the room, closing the door behind him and returns to the spot next to the window. It’s a calm and dark night and maybe, just maybe San’s warmth lingers around him too much as he slips into sleep.


	7. - 7 -

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case you are tweeting about the story, use #YourLightFF !!! I will check it once in a while! :D

Sleep is a weird experience for a reaper. There are no dreams, there is no feeling of relaxation most of the time - it just feels like death once more, this time more temporarily. Those few reapers who are lucky enough to find a partner for eternity in the eternal world of ‘between’ have said that even though dreamless, sleep next to them is a warm, reassuring and safe experience and the only time they can well their vulnerable human selves surface again. Seonghwa describes it as sinking into endless warm light, Mingi has said it’s like being wrapped in soft blankets. Each experienced it differently.

What lulled Yunho to sleep is clear. The warm light that always radiates from San took over, lingering in his hands and against his chest for a bit too long, his mind shutting down. Even the street lamp shining right on his face as he sits next to the window does not help to keep him up. His sleep is dreamless and very self-aware. He knows he is sleeping but he can’t do a thing about it. His lids are heavy, head empty and breathing calm. Even though foreign and lacking the pleasant sensations he has heard of it is relaxing in a way.

He doesn’t know how long he has been sleeping when a weight settles in his lap. It feels like someone has sat on his thighs, the weight strangely heavy. Hands go over his chest above his shirt, avoiding the feather at all costs, and wrap around the back of his neck gently. He feels a body against his - almost completely pressed against him - and soon a hot breath hits his neck. For some reason he can’t open his eyes yet, the sleep he hasn’t experienced in centuries strong - too strong even.

Lips brush against his neck and he feels hair tingling his chin as the body presses closer to him. A very familiar but so oddly distant and distorted voice calls out his name he is awake instantly. It sounds like San, no, it sounds like someone is trying to sound like him and though being close it is far from the ring the original voice has. 

As his eyes open he is met by a face that, with no doubt, should belong to the young blond - the same sharp but soft features, the same messy blond hair - but it’s not him. The deep amber-brown eyes gleam almost orange in the pale light falling through the window. There’s no light in them - just an endless swallowing abyss of nothingness, staring right back at Yunho as he looks at the creature so desperately trying to mimic the man.

“Yunho,” it breathes out again, tilting its head to the side, vaguely imitating the mannerisms of the original. It tries to move closer again but this time Yunho stops it, placing his hands on its shoulders.

“It’s not working, incubus,” he says calmly but the reaction of the creature is wild as it goes berserk instantly. Its eyes go bright orange as it screeches loudly, distorting the lovely features it has stolen beyond recognition. As its hands are still close to Yunho’s neck, it tries to claw at his throat, but the reaper is faster.

He moves his right hand from the demon’s shoulder to his neck, swiftly pushing the rapidly transforming being away from him. The disguise falls in second, revealing the face of the demon - two pointy horns sticking out from its forehead, two scaly wings fluttering on its back and a tail whipping the air. Its real face is no near the one it had borrowed - eyes large, wild and sunken in, fangs revealed as it hisses. It isn’t even a high-class incubus.

As the creature begins to wiggle in Yunho’s grasp, clawing at his hand, the reaper moves forward, slamming the yelling thing onto the floor, towering above it. “Name your master!” he orders, the feather around his neck glowing violet as do his eyes. A spear appears in his other hand, radiating the same midnight violet light. The creature simply hisses at him. “Name your master!” he repeats, flipping the spear in his hand pointing it at the demon on the floor.

“Yunho!” San’s scream from the bedroom makes the reaper look up and in that very second, his hold on the demon getting weaker, it tries to escape. As it nears the shadow to move run, Yunho jumps to his feet and thrusts the glowing spear forward to its full length, only the very end of the handle remaining in his hand, piercing through the incubus, which screams one more time before disappearing into thin air.

In a second he is at San’s door, throwing it open - spear in hand - and is met with the oddest scene he could ever imagine. There is screeching and writhing demon on the ground face first, letting out most desperate sounds. Its arm is pulled behind its back and twisted, locked in by San’s legs and pulled back by the man himself, sitting on top of the demon - right on a wing, which probably causes immense pain. The man seems safe, but his face reads an emotion Yunho never expected to see - absolute and pure anger. 

The demon tries moving again and San just twists his arm more. “Stay still!” he commands and looks up at Yunho. “What the hell is this thing?” he asks, his expression changing as he looks at Yunho - confusion, maybe even fear being more prominent now.

“An incubus,” Yunho replies shortly and goes down on one knee in front of the demon’s face. “Name your master!” he demands, receiving nothing but a hiss in return. “Speak!” he points the spear in his hand at the creature but there is no understandable response. Something must be wrong. Incubus could speak even when not pretending to be someone else, even the lower class like these.

He moves his free hand forward, prying the demon's mouth open despite the creature hissing and trying to bite him. “Damn it,” Yunho pushes through clenched teeth. “San, move away from it,” he looks at the man who is staring at him in absolute confusion. “And don’t look,” he adds.

Hesitantly, San moves away - first standing up and then letting go of the demon’s arm. He takes two steps back and turns his back to Yunho. He hears how the creature on the floor tries to move and screeches loudly before it all falls silent. Slowly, he glances over his shoulder. 

Yunho is standing where he was before, the spear in his hand being held by the very end, the sharp end of it pointing towards where the demon was. Only now, as Yunho withdraws the weapon and places the end of it on the floor, holding it by his side, San notices the violet hue around it and the same glowing color coming from the feather and sparkling in Yunho’s eyes. Now, standing like this, he just missed his full work attire and wings to match the grim reapers depicted on the banners at the library.

“What exactly happened?” San finally speaks and turns around fully. “Are they starting to attack?” he asks and hopes the trembling in his voice is not noticeable. He feels his legs shaking a bit and hopes Yunho wouldn’t notice, but he does.

“Maybe you need to sit down?” Yunho looks back at him, the violet hue fading from his eyes, the spear disappearing from his hand. San nods, he can’t argue about being shaken and looks at his bed, shiver rushing through his spine. He faintly shakes his head and walks to where Yunho is standing.

“Not here,” he says shortly, looking at back at the spot where the creature was minutes ago, and Yunho just nods letting San in the living room. He stays back for a moment and in a very human-like reflex opens the window. There is no foul smell in the air. Not a single dust is left from the demon, but it seems like a reasonable thing to do.

As he walks into the living room, the lights still off, he sees San sitting on the couch, his heels on the edge of it, his legs close to his chest with his arms pulling them close turning him into a small ball of thousand questions disappearing somewhere between the pillows. Yunho can just let out a sigh as he walks around the coffee table and sits down on the other edge of the sofa where he had spent his time earlier that day too.

“Are these incubus,” San starts speaking, “the same as in movies and books?” he asks, his eyes looking at nothing across the coffee table. 

“There are many types of them. These were just low-class minions, enchanted not to speak outside the dreams. What they do is bring forward deepest desires and create dreams - they steal appearances and voices to be more convincing. Their goal is to drain their target of as much energy as possible. Then whoever they have attacked is an easier prey to others,” Yunho leans his head back into the pillows and sighs. He glances towards San, his ears burning up a little, as if the incubus latches itself onto his deepest desires it could mean something he hasn’t realized himself yet. Maybe his eyes are tricking him, but San’s cheeks seem rosy in the dim light from the window and of sheer politeness he turns his gaze back to the ceiling.

“I fell asleep,” he admits and feels San’s eyes on him but he doesn’t dare to make eye contact. “I haven’t slept in 200 years, and tonight from all nights I fell asleep,” he leans forward, his elbows on his knees and face hidden in his hands. “From all damn nights this one. I’m sorry,” he lets out a breath and remains motionless, catching his own breath from the shame as an almost failed guardian. He hears movement next to him and dares to look to his left, San is now sitting a bit closer to him, his feet on the floor.

“200 years is a long time. I would be tired too,” he murmurs and looks at his feet on the floor. “And, I think, we have had a lot on our shoulders for a while now, so I am kind of glad you felt comfortable enough to fall asleep here,” he continues and looks up meeting Yunho’s eyes. “We both woke up, so it’s okay,” he smiles weakly but it’s nothing more than a twitch of his lips before he looks down again.

“Thanks, but it’s on me they got this close,” Yunho shakes head and he knows he is right. San doesn’t say anything either and he is either agreeing or disagreeing, or maybe he is too tired and shocked to reply. “We, no, you should try sleeping more,” he continues and looks at the man. San remains silent a bit longer, seemingly thinking about something.

“I will probably stay here then. I don’t feel like going back in the room tonight,” the blond admits and it’s completely understandable. 

“Then allow me to be a bit useful and bring you a blanket,” Yunho stands up and as he passes San on the other side of the table the latter speaks up, but very quietly.

“Could you also… bring the shiba doll… from the corner,” he murmurs and it seems that his intention is for Yunho to asks what he was saying and reply with the typical ‘nothing’.

“Okay,” Yunho nods, ruining the blonds plan. He goes to the room and closes the window, the fresh air of the night making the space more bearable. He grabs the blanket from the bed and looks at the corner of plushies, the only shiba doll is at the very top of it. It’s a bit odd, pillow-shaped one but it’s cute in its own way.

“Here you go,” he hands both to San who hasn’t moved from the couch. The latter is a bit hesitant before taking the doll but he presses it tightly against his chest with one hand while pulling the blanket over himself with the other, falling to his side on the couch.

“This is so silly,” he murmurs from under the blanket. Yunho smiles at the talking blanket and shakes his head.

“It’s not,” he retorts and walks to his spot by the window. As he sits down and looks at the bed a blond mess of hair and two large, round amber eyes look straight at him. A small, brown paw peak from the edge of the blanket too, two delicate fingers holding it, and waves ‘goodnight’ before San swiftly turns to face the pillows, the blond nest of hair remaining all Yunho sees outside the blanket.

Both intense feeling of joy from the cutest antics and deep regret of failing at his task washes over Yunho at the same time. He couldn’t let his guard down again. Ever. He has a task on his hands he picked himself. Even more - he has made an oath to himself to protect San at all costs even before it was an order. He can’t fail again.

Most of the night he remains observing the streets through the window. His eyes once in a while travel to the sofa where San is sound asleep. The shiba doll is still tightly pressed against his chest while him moving around in his sleep kicks the blanket around. At one point his leg falls off the edge of the sofa and he is close to rolling out of it, so Yunho stands up and walks over. He removes some of the pillows and gently pushes the sleeping man deeper into the couch.

“He does look like an angel when sleeping,” a deep, warm voice startles Yunho and he instantly places himself between the speaker and San. If he wouldn’t know it so well he would have gone into a battle mode instantly. He turns around to see a rather tall man in a knee-length double-button dust coat, belted at the middle, step out from a deep shadow next to the TV. He removes his wide-edge hat, revealing blinding white hair along with his sharp, almost eagle-like features. As graciously as always he takes a few steps to the chair by the window, silver chains on his boots ringing in the air, and sits down, crossing his legs and placing his hat on the top knee.

“Seonghwa,” Yunho lets out a sigh and perches on the edge of the coffee table. “If it’s you it’s probably something serious.” he looks at the stunning man in the chair, the street lights falling around him and avoiding his presence all at once creating a strange aura around him.

“I’d say it’s more annoying than serious,” he speaks with audible annoyance in his voice, emphasizing his words. “We did find out who and why is doing this to the poor boy,” he looks at sleeping San and shakes his head. “Who would have thought demons would go this incredibly low.”

“You will have to fill me in then,” Yunho leans closer, ready to receive all information given at his best ability.

“Good news - they are not some super high ranking friends. The highest part of middle-class demons,” the man glances outside the window, rolling his eyes at something before continuing. “The typical scum honestly - those who feed on misery and pain. A handful of them had decided to take over this neighborhood and feed on it as long as they could. Turn it into a ‘corner of hell’ for them,” he raises his hand to the window and knocks on the glass with his knuckles, his eyes flaring red for a second before he turns back to Yunho.

“A shadow hound. Hate those nosy things. Probably scouting what happened to the two incubi,” he shakes his head. Yunho would ask how Seonghwa already knows what has happened, but he has skills no reaper can compare to. And he knows far more than one could imagine, maybe even rivaling the knowledge of the Librarian, his practical knowledge being superior. “Anyway, those nasty rascals got upset because someone ruined their plans,” his eyes go to the sleeping man and Yunho looks at him too.

“When an elderly man is about to jump in front of oncoming traffic but a young man pulls him off-road, offering his free time to help with a barely surviving fruit shop one can’t really talk about misery,” he speaks looking at San. “When a single mother sees her daughter smiling at someone truly kind, a man at that, after escaping an abusive husband and possible horrors, there are no bad emotions. Just joy,” he continues and Yunho can connect the stories with the people has seen easily. “When a boy gets a broken heart mended by most genuine friendship, it is love more than sadness,” Seonghwa continues and even though this example is a mystery for Yunho, he knows it’s true. Without a doubt.

“The list of the small and big good deeds he has done is endless. It has, actually, very little to do with his angelic ancestry. He does have the heavenly light in him, but he himself is the source of the good around him,” Seonghwa sighs. “And those childish demons hate it.” Yunho is forced to look at Seonghwa as his voice has the same annoyed tone as it had before.

“How low can demons go to announce a man-hunt on one human only because of their plans being ruined,” he scoffs. “Foolish kids. Scrambling around for scraps of ‘sinister’ and turning into an offended bunch of pigeons when someone swipes the scraps away. Disgraceful,” he utters the last word. 

“Seonghwa,” Yunho interrupts his rant and the blond man shakes his head, pressing his eyes shut for a moment. 

“Sorry,” he breathes out. “For now we can’t track them. But seeing how persistent they are and how much lowly scum they have lurking out there, they should go for a kill soon. Meanwhile,” he stands up and his eyes glow red and a long waved dagger appears in his hand. He raises it to his other hand and slices open the tip of his index finger. The dagger fades from his hand and he takes a step to the window, quickly drawing a symbol on the glass. The blood shines red from the light behind the window but then disappears as if it has never been there.

In seconds Seonghwa is at the front door, drawing the same symbol there. He disappears into San’s room, most probably drawing the same on the window there. As he walks out of the room he runs his tongue over the finger once and the wound is completely gone. 

“These will keep any scum out of here, they hate my stench,” he explains and stands at the end of the sofa, looking at San. “It won’t keep the actual culprits out tho. When they will approach, the signs will appear in blood again,” he turns his eyes to Yunho. “When that happens, grab him and get to an open space with as little bystanders as possible. They will try to grab as many along as many humans as possible, those idiots. Let’s not give them the chance,” he sighs.

“We will find you the moment you move,” he adds and walks back to the chair where he left the hat. He puts it on and turns to Yunho again.

“Protect your angel. He might be the saving grace you deserve for so long,” he smiles from the shadow of his hat and takes a step back, dissolving in the shadow.

“I will,” Yunho looks at San who has slept through all of this encounter. “With everything I have. No more mistakes,” he whispers and looks at the sleeping man for a moment longer before returning to his chair.

Little does he know that, maybe, San isn’t as asleep as he seems to be, hugging the dog doll even tighter, deeply fearing what ‘everything’ means for Yunho and how dangerous it could be… for the reaper.


	8. - 8 -

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case you are tweeting about the story, use #YourLightFF !!! I will check it once in a while! :D  
> If anyone ever wants to draw art for this, I would love that a lot.

The next morning arrives slowly and sadly doesn’t chase away the heavy atmosphere from the night before. San has barely slept and even though he tried his very best - keeping his eyes closed as much as possible, trying not to think too much - it didn’t help one bit to his racing heart. Instead of finally becoming lighter and releasing stress his head continuously turns into more of a mess and he can barely follow his own thoughts. For countless times during the night, he peeked over his shoulder or opened his eyes to check if Yunho was still there. There was an intense fear of him disappearing adding to everything San already felt. He always was in his place - looking out the window with eyes wide open. Even when San woke up after nothing more but a nap he was still in his place. 

“Can we go out today?” he asks skipping the ‘good morning’ as he felt nothing good about this morning. “I think the apartment needs to air out. We should also clean when we come back. Maybe Wooyung can come over today or tomorrow,” he lists while looking at his legs covered by the blanket. He is well aware he is creating distractions from all things that are bothering him, but he needs them.

“San,” Yunho’s voice makes him look at the reaper. The soft smile on his features, the light from the cloudy day behind the window illuminating his face, makes the heavy feeling on San’s shoulders lessen and he exhales. “Of course we can. You shouldn’t even ask,” the reaper’s voice is soothing and calm and it actually puts San at ease. It would be impossible to endure if Yunho wouldn’t be here or if it would be anyone else but Yunho. San is sure of it.

“Okay,” he nods. “I will go get ready then. We… I can have breakfast somewhere out,” he gets up from the bed, taking the shiba doll and the blanket with him. He catches a quick glance of Yunho returning his gaze to the window before walking to his room. The sight of the bed nauseates him, waking up with that horrible thing on top of him when in his dream it was… He lets out a long sigh and shakes his head before dropping the blanket on the bed and placing the doll in its rightful place.

This morning opting for a colder shower seems like a great idea, but even the cold water falling over his head does not help. Everything is a mess - the supernatural world he is pulled in, the danger looming near him just because he is a nice human being apparently - it makes no sense. Above all the growing concern of how far Yunho could go to protect him scares him - for Yunho’s sake. Right, Yunho is in his head a lot. He was there from the moment they first met, San can’t deny it, but now it’s more persistent. The dream the incubus brought to him last night didn’t help as the creature had stolen Yunho’s appearance or rather borrowed it from San’s subconscious mind.

Right now it made him disgusted. His dream clouded mind for a moment thought that the intimate touches along his sides, kisses on his neck and cheeks had been Yunho. Until it hit him he wouldn’t do this. He wouldn’t creep into San’s bed at night like that. Not the big, dark and gloomy who hid between pillows and laughed at anime, not the grim reaper himself who looked at him with the biggest, brightest cinnamon colored eyes when San run his fingers through his hair. He would never do that. And he was right, absolutely. Yet he felt so disappointed in his own deep-down thoughts, he turned the shower water even colder.

The shower doesn’t help much, just makes him feel freezing cold and the hot air from the blowdryer creates the most unpleasant yet satisfying contrast. Somehow, despite not feeling the best, he still feels the need to look good. A blue, red and white t-shirt, light jeans - he looks good when looking in the mirror, if not the dark bags under his eyes that seem to be more obvious compared to other days.

“Whatever,” he sighs and grabs his bag, throwing the phone from the nightstand in it. He exits the room and for his surprise, Yunho is at the hallway, his coat on his shoulders, boots on. The window is open in the living room, following the idea of airing out the apartment. He frowns at the dark attire and goes to put on his shoes.

“You really don’t like it that much?” Yunho asks with laughter in his voice. “I do need it if we are going somewhere,” he adds and San murmurs a quiet ‘I know.’ He is well aware that if someone is after him having a grim reaper at his best by his side is probably needed. He still doesn’t fully like the dark look. He doesn't mind the color black, he finds it soothing even, but it doesn’t fit Yunho and he can’t explain why.

He grabs his own jacket from the hanger and squeezes past Yunho to let both of them out. The weather is not very pleasant almost matching how San is feeling - a bit gloomy and cloudy, sudden breezes of wind shaking up the trees and people on the streets. It isn’t particularly cold nor is it warm. In all ways possible it is somewhere in the middle in a very annoying way.

It’s a quiet walk. The neighborhood is quite empty as it is close to the middle of the day and people are either at work or at school. San is glad about that. He wouldn’t have the strength to greet anyone right now or to have a small talk. He looks to the left and up to Yunho who is silently walking next to him. Perhaps the man knows of San’s uneasy feelings and doesn’t want to amplify them. Maybe, just maybe San wishes he would show his support someway else than staying quiet. 

They reach a small coffee shop on a street corner where San has become a regular. He prepares his brightest expression as he enters, the doorbell ringing. He smiles nicely at the lovely baristas behind the counter as he gets his latte and a croissant. Without a surprise, Yunho just gets black coffee, despite the blushing girls behind the counter trying to sell him a slice of fresh cheesecake. He has a charm ‘mortals’ can’t resist or maybe it’s not anything supernatural but simply his handsome face and a soft smile. The latter two were probably San’s pick.

The blond looks away as Yunho finishes convincing the girls just coffee is okay and walks to the table where San has sat down with his cup. It’s a quiet morning hour, somewhere between ten and eleven, and the cafe is empty enough to feel free to just sit there.

“Is coffee something you miss from your previous life?” San asks as the reaper takes a sip from the cup. San nibbles on his croissant and he hopes a conversation will help the food go down easier as he has no appetite. 

“No. It wasn’t around then. I just like the taste,” Yunho explains placing the cup back on the table. His large hands swallow up the cup almost completely and it is quite endearing. San tries to mimic the same with his hands and his latte cup, but the effect is no near the same or even similar.

“Then, if you would have to pick something from your time to have, what would be?” San continues the conversation now also being genuinely curious. 

“Having some yeot* would be nice, but the ones they make now are not that good,” he replies and for a second San’s eyes grow big, the most common usage of the word now a bit different from its innocent origin.

“I see,” he just nods and takes a sip from his latte and a realization suddenly hits him. “Wait, you lived in Joseon, right?” he looks at Yunho wide eyes not fully grasping the words leaving his mouth.

“Yes, I did,” Yunho simply nods and San leans back in his chair for a moment to let the information sink in before he leans forward, across the table, again. 

“That means, as a reaper you walked around in a black hanbok with the hat and everything? Like in dramas?” he looks at the man wide-eyed and suddenly nothing else - no other worries - are bothering him but these new, far more interesting questions.

Yunho lets out a small giggle and for a second San is more fascinated by that than the response. “Yes. I wore a full black hanbok with the hat and everything. Just like they show in dramas so well,” he replies with a smile. “I wonder if it’s just someone’s imagination working well or a reaper has told them.”

“So, you had long hair too?” San blinks a few times trying to imagine the man before him with his black locks reaching at least his shoulders. It is a bit of an odd look but the more he thinks of it the more he finds it attractive.

“That I had too. We try to match the time we are in as much as possible,” he nods and San lets out a very quiet ‘I see’ before drinking his latte again. He thinks very carefully about what to ask next but the question escapes him before he can make it a bit nicer.

“When you died, you became an angel, right? As all reapers were once angels,” he asks and despite the question being quite tactless Yunho nods, his gaze focusing on his cup.

“That’s how it goes, yes,” the topic is obviously not a pleasant one and only at that moment, San understands that in his desperate attempt to escape his own thoughts he has blurted out something that could be painful. The last thing he wants to do is to make Yunho feel uncomfortable.

“I’m sorry,” he looks down at his cup too. “I am sometimes too curious for my own good,” it’s the best way to put it and it is actually true. However, there is a heavy feeling his chest from a single glance at the sad expression on Yunho’s face. He said it himself - all reapers are cursed and perhaps being one is a curse in itself. Losing wings can not be a blessing, right?

“It’s okay,” Yunho dismisses the apology but San can’t shake the feeling he has struck a chord he shouldn’t have touched, perhaps something he has no right to touch ever. He wishes he could find even better words to apologize for being too curious. But he doesn’t have the time to.

“I became a reaper…” Yunho starts and San’s eyes shoot up from the cup to look at the man. His face is still incredibly sad, his eyes looking at the few people walking outside. The whole world reflects in the cinnamon-colored mirrors, even San’s reflection in the window and the latter is mesmerized by that. “...because I loved someone too much,” Yunho’s lips curl in a barely-there smile and he turns to look at San, who is a bit startled having those eyes on him suddenly. “They didn’t love me back tho. Not the same way at least. So to not remind them of myself I asked to become a reaper,” he answers to the unasked question. San can feel his jaw-dropping open as he looks at the dark-haired man before him who inhales and then exhales slowly, looking at his cup again.

His hands are firmly wrapped at the seemingly small cup. There is probably no warmth coming from it anymore, but holding onto something seems essential and San understands why, but at the same time, he doesn’t.

“But… why?” is all San can push past his lips. Now, when he should fix this with a proper question or a remark his throat seems so tight it doesn’t let any sound out. It could have done that a few minutes ago to avoid this.

“It is not very common for angels to feel regret and guilt, so I wanted to spare them from feeling it as seeing me every day would tear them apart. So, I rather had my wings torn away instead,” he lets out a long breathe again. He lets go of the cup and moves his hands forward so he could rest his elbows on the table. He clasps his hands together in front of the cup, looking at them for a moment before looking outside again.

“Is that what ‘everything’ means?” San half whispers and Yunho is forced to look at him. “Is that what protecting someone with everything you have means? Even… even if they are not worth that?” San looks at Yunho as well. For a moment everything remains quiet as Yunho seems to be drawing connections between his story and San’s words, the connection hitting him after a moment.

“Giving up my wings again, if that would be possible, is no near everything I would be willing to do to…”

“Don’t!” San exclaims, his hand landing on the table with probably too big of a bang. All eyes in the cafe - now a bit more busy - on him. He lowers his head until everyone looks away, everyone except for Yunho.

“Don’t,” San repeats, but this time quietly. “Whatever that everything means, it is not necessary and not worth it,” he continues quietly, his hand still resting where he landed it. Another one, in size definitely larger one, rests on his suddenly. There is a warmth flowing from it so soothing San can just look at it in awe for a moment before looking at Yunho.

“The very first day I saw you I promised myself I have to keep you out of danger. A bit later I made an oath, once again just with myself, that I will keep you safe no matter what it takes,” he speaks and San can just shake his head. “This will sound incredibly foolish, but I just know I have to.”

“Then can you promise me something,” San finally dares to look in the cinnamon-colored eyes looking at him. “Promise me that you will do your very best to remain safe throughout that,” he says with a serious expression as he means it. He places his free hand on top of Yunho’s and the latter looks at their stacked hands and with a small laugh adds his other hand on top.

“I promise,” he smiles and though there is still that deep sadness lingering in his features it seems a lot more fading. There is something about having Yunho’s hand in his and vice versa that calms San down more than he could have imagined. The heavy thoughts fade and all he can focus on is Yunho’s touch. It doesn’t help that he has been staring those big, warm eyes either.

Only the realization it might look a bit odd from the side makes him move. He pulls out the hand from the bottom of the pile and places it on the top of Yunho’s. The latter blinks surprised at the action before smirking and pulling his hand out to move it to the top. San frowns and repeats the same action with his other hand, which is now on the table, but as soon as he does Yunho’s hand is back on top of his. He didn’t even notice how the man moved it.

“No superpowers. That’s not fair,” the blond pouts earning a resonant laugh from Yunho. What he doesn’t expect is for Yunho to withdraw his hands completely. He can’t stop his own from twitching as if trying to grab the reaper’s again and keep them in place, but he manages to pull them back in his lap instead.

There is just a moment of silence until San’s phone buzzes in his bag and he is almost grateful for that. He digs it out and, no surprise, it’s a message from Wooyoung.

“Wooyoung says he can come over tomorrow. Can…” San is about to start a question but he presses his lips together immediately. He doesn’t have to ask. He knows it by now. Very quickly he types in an answer and throws his phone back in his bag. Without saying a word he stands up and Yunho quickly does the same.

“Ok. He is coming tomorrow so we should go clean. Just a bit. It’s just him. And the fridge is empty too,” San announces and this time Yunho is the one who can just nod. It is a sudden mood change but San believes it’s for the best. Even though a bit heavy, the conversation has helped his mind to clear up. Or maybe it was the warmth that helped with that or the promise, but he feels a lot better than in the morning.

Their road leads out of the cafe and around the corner. The weather has become much better - the wind has calmed down and few rays of sun peek out from the cloud here and there. For a second San thinks how weirdly the weather matches his mood, but he quickly disregards it to a coincidence and proceeds towards a shop nudged between busy cafes and restaurants.

The red shopping basket stands out against Yunho’s outfit to the point of ridiculous, but it is also strangely aesthetic and encourages San to fill it with various red and black items - from two bottles of coke to packets of ramen - all earning a frown from Yunho. Without a warning the tall man makes his way to the fruit and vegetable aisle, adding tomatoes, strawberries, blueberries, and apples to the basket. Not too many but at least somehow refreshing the contents of the basket while keeping the ‘aesthetic’.

“Berries are expensive,” San pouts as Yunho walks to the register and the reaper looks at him with a raised eyebrow. As soon as the moment to pay comes instead of waiting for San to take his wallet out of the bag, still murmuring about expensive berries and how Yunho won’t even eat them, Yunho gets his own wallet from the mysterious depths of his coat. He hands a few bills to the cashier and San can just observe the interaction.

Exiting the store the green plastic bag in Yunho’s hand creates a new aesthetic - less pleasing to the eye though. Either that or an unanswered question has made San stare at Yunho very carefully.

“Yes?” Yunho finally asks as they take a turn to return to the apartment.

“You have money?” San narrows his eyes and pushes his lips forward in a pout.

“I did pay for the coffee too, didn’t I?” Yunho replies casually making San stop in his tracks for a second. His own memory is fuzzy just for a second until he connects the dots.

“Right…” San murmurs. “Right!” he now exclaims louder and catches up with the grim reaper. “How tho?”

“We get ‘allowance’ to blend in when needed. We usually don’t spend it so we just have it,” Yunho gives a very simplified answer. San is ready to ask more, he has more to ask but decides that it’s enough of being nosy for the day. With time, if given the chance, he wants to ask countless more questions to Yunho, but for today it was enough. They have plenty of other things to do and plenty of distractions for San’s overworked mind. The main distraction being the tall grim reaper leading the way home.


	9. - 9 -

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case you are tweeting about the story, use #YourLightFF !!! I will check it once in a while! :D Also find me @ BeanSensei  
> If anyone ever wants to draw art for this, I would love that a lot.

“Wooyung!” San exclaims cheerfully as the front door opens and dives into a hug already waiting for him. A man maybe a centimeter or two shorter than San stands there with a shopping bag in his hand but catches the excited blond either way. He places the bag down to properly wrap both of his arms around the blond and squeeze him tightly. It seems like they haven’t seen each other for months when in reality it is just days. However, one is worried sick while other has had another sleepless night on the couch because of fear now being his main emotion.

They remain clasped together in the hallway for a moment and Wooyung notices how tight San’s hug is. They all were always tight and warm, but this time it felt somehow different and he squeezes the man even tighter, not knowing exactly how to respond to shaky exhale from the blond he feels against his neck. He wants to ask straight away how San is doing but something or rather someone catches his attention.

“Oh! Hello,” WooYoung is the one who lets go first as he sees the tall, all in black dressed man standing partially in front of the hallway door but more towards the kitchen. He is almost completely blending in with the shadows despite all lights being on and it is quite intriguing. San steps out of the hug too, his arm remaining around Wooyoung’s shoulders, and turns towards the other man.

“Wooyung, this is Yunho. The friend from the cafe,” San introduces the taller man. “And Yunho, this is Wooyung. My best friend,” he smiles and finally lets go of the dark-haired man, squeezing him close by the shoulder one more time. He picks up the bag that was placed down and closes the door. He doesn’t pay much attention to Wooyung, who has kicked off his shoes, automatically stepping in the slippers that were waiting for him.

He steps into the living room area, right in front of Yunho. He is trying his best to be intimidating and serious, his protective side on full display, but as he stands close to the larger man and his eyes have to look up to meet the man’s he feels his intimidating persona fading. What he doesn’t really expect is a very soft, warm smile appear on the man’s face as he reaches out his noticeably large hand.

“Nice to meet you,” the man says in a deep, but very pleasant voice and Wooyung takes on the offered handshake.

“Your hand is huge,” he murmurs and as the man lets out a small ‘huh’ he understands he said it out loud. “Sorry. Nice to meet you too,” he replies and lets go of Yunho’s hand. Even though he is this tall man, blending in with the darkness in the corner of the room and Wooyoung has never seen him before, he instantly feels nice. As if he is carrying some sort of eternal calmness with him. He can’t explain this feeling but he goes with it.

“How about we move further in?” San speaks from behind Wooyoung and the latter almost jumps a bit. He looks at his friend who has been patiently waiting in the hallway, the grocery bag in his hands. As Yunho nods and walks past the kitchen door into the living room Wooyoung just follows his example. He has been here countless times but it suddenly feels a bit awkward, probably because it usually was just him and San.

Home is a sacred place for San. He keeps it neat but so reminiscent of all the things he loves it is the perfect environment to know him better. Because of that he rarely invites people over now, Wooyoung being an exception. So, if Yunho is here, he must be special.

Nothing has changed in the livingroom. That much he sees. Only the chair next to the window is something different but he likes it. The TV is on, currently, on a random drama channel, the game selection lined up for possible entertainment. A pizza box stands on the coffee table, the scent breaking through even cardboard, along with a bottle of coke and three cups. Everything is set neatly and looks like someone has done cleaning too, so it feels just like any visit at San’s. Apart from having another guest, as he has noted already.

“Why did you buy beer?” San yells from the kitchen, his pouty face appearing in the door aisle in a second. “You didn’t need to,” he frowns a bit. 

“Oh come one, there are just 8 of them! That’s actually nothing!” Wooyoung yells right back even though is basically right there listening. “I got the one you like. Say thank you instead,” he pouts right back before flopping down in the very middle of the couch. “Unbelievable,” he scoffs and looks up at Yunho, who is looking out the window.

His face is suddenly very serious, eyebrows furrowed as he follows something with his eyes. His aura is completely different from before and this is probably the intimidating Wooyoung wanted to achieve earlier, but didn’t manage to. He looks away fast as Yunho closes the curtain completely and turns towards the sofa. It is a bit odd to look around the room he knows so well and the man sitting down next to him gives him a reason to look at him without being weird. 

He’s handsome. Undoubtedly. And tall as a tree. Good qualities. The calm and almost serene feeling from before is back and makes Wooyung relax a bit more. From the initial few words he also seems kind and if San said the truth and he did save him, he is even more than just kind. 

“So,” Wooyoung starts and Yunho turns to him instantly, amazingly cinnamon colored eyes looking straight at him. “About that cafe. Was it you who, you know, saved San?” he asks and for as second the man seems taken aback before he nods.

“I guess you could say so. I don’t think anyone could imagine something like a whole floor falling in could happen,” he replies and his voice has a very soothing tone to it. “I’m glad no one got hurt. Well, no one in the cafe,” he adds and Wooyoung is the one who nods now as he turns to the TV.

“Thank you,” he tries to distract himself with the nonsense on the screen to not let his past experiences mix with his present. But the very thought he could have lost someone so dear to him again hits deeper than he wishes it would and he bites his lower lip, taking a deep breath before speaking. “Really. Thank you,” he turns back to Yunho who in turn looks at him.

“What’s going on, hmmm?” San finally comes from the kitchen, the beers probably stored in the fridge as he only carries a bowl of chips in his hands. He puts it on the table and flops down the sofa next to Wooyoung. “Don’t tell me both of you have been sitting in silence,” he frowns and looks at the two men with the cutest serious expression and they both hold back a laugh at the same time.

“We talked. Don’t worry,” Yunho is the one reassure the blond and Wooyung nods in agreement. The atmosphere is just a bit odd as such a combination of people has never hung out together, but he knows it will become nicer in a moment.

“Ok. So, food?” the blond perks up in his seat and receiving a confirmation from Wooyoung goes on to open the pizza box as well as pouring the soda in the cups. He hands one to Yunho, places another in front of Wooyoung, who has already stuffed his cheeks with a quarter of a pizza slice and places the third in front of himself. He takes a slice and sits back down on the sofa, pulling his legs underneath him and munching on.

“You don’t want any?” Wooyoung turns to Yunho who just sips on the soda. “It’s really good,” he adds, food always making more talkative even though his mouth should be busy chewing. He has a habit of making sure everyone around him eats well, even if he barely knew them. Food is something too important for him to let anyone go without it.

“I can’t really eat pizza,” Yunho shakes his head lightly. For a second Wooyung stares at him wide eyes and quiet, swallowing the bite he had in his mouth.

“Are you lactose? Yah!” he exclaims loudly and turns to San who is fully immersed into the food and shoots up his eyes only when Wooyung directly looks at him. “If he can’t eat pizza we could have gotten something else,” he almost scolds the wide-eyed blond.

“No, no! Don’t worry. I am fine, really,” Yunho tries to intervene and manages to get Wooyoung’s attention back. “I really don’t mind. I am not hungry or anything,” he continues and Wooyoung narrows his eyes at him. He doesn’t respond verbally but takes the bowl of chips San brought and places it basically in front of Yunho, pushing the pizza box aside. 

“Never knew you are a shitty host,” Wooyung murmurs aiming the jab at San as he returns to his pizza slice. 

“I am not!” San exclaims and almost jumps to his feet. “He said it’s okay! I asked!” he pouts and looks over Wooyung at Yunho for help, which he receives immediately.

“I really, really don’t mind. I…” the man seems to not know exactly what to say for a second. “I had a late lunch at work, so it’s fine.” he finishes the sentence, but instead of getting Wooyoung of his case he has his full attention.

“You look around our age. You work full time?” he asks before taking a monstrous bite from his slice. His cheeks are full but he continuously stares at Yunho while chewing.

“Yes. I decided working is more efficient for me,” the man replies and Wooyung nods, scanning the man with his eyes. He remembers the long, black coat hanging in the hallway and turns to check if it is really here before turning back to Yunho.

“So this is like your work uniform or something? Looks cool, but I feel very underdressed,” he smiles looking down at his denim pants and jacket combo with a white t-shirt underneath. “Until I look at him, of course,” he looks at San who has been silently looking at the two, eating. The blond is wearing a black, oversized hoodie and tracksuit bottoms - very different from the other two.

“It looks like we came to three different events,” WooYoung laughs and sinks back into the pillows more comfortably. “Kind of cool actually,” he smiles and turns to San who has been quiet for a while. The man in the corner of the sofa is Wooyoung’s main concern. Has been for the past few days, so getting the heavy questions out of the way fast seems like a plan.

“I will ask straight up - how are you doing?” he sees San’s eyes shift to Yunho for a second before looking at Wooyoung. There is a slightly sad smile on his face and Wooyoung instantly knows San is about to lie.

“I’m doing okay. I could be better but the main scare is over and I just need a bit more time,” he tries to look positive and cheerful, but that does not trick his friend.

“Are you sleeping okay?” he asks and sees from the side that Yunho is paying full attention to all of San’s answers too. 

“As always…” the blond begins to answer but Wooyoung stops him mid-sentence.

“Liar. I can see the dark circles under your eyes,” he points out. “Right? He looks tired?” he turns to Yunho, who to his shock has the most concerned expression on his face as he looks at San. 

“He does,” the taller man replies and Wooyung turns back to San, who on the other hand tries to avoid both pairs of eyes aimed at him. 

“I know you for how many years now and you think you will fool me? If something like that happened you were probably scared senseless! I am even surprised you were okay enough to go fix your phone the same day or to even speak,” his voice goes up a bit and he almost sounds angry while in reality, he is just worried. As the blond looks away even more Wooyung stops the rant for a second.

“San,” he sighs and scoots a bit closer to the man. “Tell me,” he glances back at Yunho who hasn’t looked away from San even for a second. The worry in his face is almost painful for Wooyoung as it doubles what he is feeling. They both feel the same - he can tell by Yunho’s eyes alone. “Tell us,” he changes the almost plead like request, placing his hand on San’s thigh.   
“Can we...not? Really,” San looks at the TV screen, obviously biting his lower lip from the inside. He is half curled in the corner of the couch and Wooyung knows he won’t be able to get anything from him like this.

“Fine,” he sighs, withdraws his hand and grabs another slice of the pizza, falling back into the couch and munching on it angrily. Yunho, however, still looks at San and it seems that he is about to say something but Wooyung stops him, shaking his head. The all-black clad man sighs and takes a few chips from the bowl, chewing on them slowly and that seems to catch San’s attention as he looks at Yunho for a moment before taking another slice of pizza himself.

“This atmosphere is completely sour,” Wooyoung announces, his initial hope of it getting better disappearing, and stands up from his seat, stuffing the last bite in his mouth. “Do you drink?” he turns to Yunho.

“Not really,” he smiles while shaking his head to which WooYoung nods. He squeezes past San and walks to the kitchen. He returns a minute later with two beers and places one in front of San. He opens the other one and takes a large gulp, exhaling in satisfaction before placing his own can the table too. 

“Excuse me,” he rubs his hands together and pushes the coffee table to the side, making Yunho pull his long legs up to his chest, which is quite an amusing sight. He continues by taking the remote control and connecting one of the gaming consoles. For Wooyoung this is almost a second home so he doesn’t bother even turning to San as he chooses a game and prepares the controllers.

“There’s just two so we will have to take turns,” he turns back to the couch. Yunho has scooted more towards the middle of it as there is no space for his legs on the side anymore. San has moved out of the corner a bit, looking at Wooyoung wide-eyed and that is positive progress. The latter takes off his jacket, throwing it on the couch and grabs his beer from the table, placing it in safe but reachable distance on the floor. 

“Mario Kart. One versus one - whose first?” he sits down on the floor and holds back the free control over his head. “I know I still hold the record here so if anyone wants to challenge me…”

San lets out a puff of air and jumps to his feet, stomping over to his friend and grabbing the controller before sitting down on the floor as well. “I will beat you this time,” he murmurs, almost angrily selecting his avatar. He always knew how to at least a bit pull San out of any type of a down.

“Right,” WooYoung smirks and as soon as San is ready the race starts. It doesn’t take even half a minute before the usually quiet living room is bubbling with laughter and excited shouts. One race turns into best out of three and then best out of five. They all, however, end up in San losing.

“That is not fair! You play online on your breaks at work!” San pouts and falls back on the floor - legs and arms spread in each direction. “Not fair!” he kicks around in almost childlike manner causing other two men to laugh out loud at his tantrum.

“No one stops you from practicing,” Wooyung retorts casually as he takes a sip from his beer. “Could you hand me that?” he turns to Yunho, who has been sitting on the couch watching them and points at the other can.

“Sure,” the man blinks a few times before handing the drink over. Wooyoung opens it and stretches his hand out towards San who sits up, takes the can and takes several big gulps from it. He still remains sitting on the floor pouting, and that’s the oddest contrast one has probably seen.

“Wanna try?” Wooyung turns to Yunho, handing the controller over.

“I have never played this or any game, to be honest,” he smiles a bit awkwardly and Wooyoung has to admit to himself this big man is very cute.

“That’s ok! Great way to let San’s ego rise - playing against a novice,” he laughs and gets pushed by San immediately, landing on the floor in his elbow while laughing loudly.

“Shut up!” he frowns, but the sour facial expression drops when he looks at Yunho. “You should still try. While there is a chance to,” he smiles at the man and that doesn’t slip Wooyung’s eyes.

“I can try, I guess,” Yunho sighs and gets up from the sofa. Wooyung scoots over, letting him sit between him and San. He hands Yunho the controller and ogles at how it looks so small in his hands for a moment. 

“Okay, so short instruction,” he scoots back closer and starts pointing at the controller, telling what each button and switch does. “And if you do this,” he places his hands over Yunho’s, moving his fingers to different button combinations, “you can drop items,” he explains and as his hands move away from Yunho’s he catches San glancing at him not in the nicest way. He ignores it for now despite it actually being quite amusing. 

“Round one!” he announces loudly as the race starts, his eyes fully locked on the screen. “Wow! WOW!” he exclaims and goes as far up as possible while still remaining sitting. “Yunho! You are doing awesome!” he basically gasps as he watches the screen. The tension being absolutely real in the during the last lap. However, despite the cheers, San wins the round.

“Are you sure you have never played?” the blond turns to Yunho who in turn looks at him and shakes his head, looking as confused as one could possibly be.

“Never,” he replies and Wooyung gasps again. 

“Okay, watch this,” the latter grabs onto Yunho’s hands again and guides him over buttons again, pointing out his mistakes the previous round. He almost laughs at San quite angrily downing the beer, placing the obviously empty can down with a bang. What makes it even cuter is how focused Yunho is on his explanation rather than San nearing a tantrum.

“How come you haven’t played before?” Wooyung asks, his hands leaving Yunho’s who repeats all moves again, this time without Wooyoung’s guidance.

“I … have been working for quite a while, let’s put it like that,” Yunho replies and Wooyoung doesn’t ask any more questions. He knew when to stop with curiosity. 

“Okay! Let’s go!” he goes back into game host mode and is absolutely on the edge during the second race, commenting on every move and turn the others take. No one seems to expect that, but Yunho takes the win which gets Wooyoung on his feet.

“That is so cool! You have a talent, listen!” he sits back down and lightly slaps Yunho’s shoulder. The taler man still looks absolutely shaken by his success and first looks at beaming Wooyung and then at a slightly frowning San.

“Best out of five!” San announces immediately and his face is as serious as it can get. He really took this seriously. 

“Okay,” Yunho just laughs and looks quite relaxed until the next round starts and he goes into full game mode. The best of five ends with Yunho’s victory, however, and San sprawled out on the floor again. 

“Someone is a natural!” Wooyung laughs earning most dissatisfied frown from San. 

“You play against him, gaming All Might,” San stands up, shoves his controller at Wooyoung and stomps to the kitchen angrily.

“He is not seriously upset. He just enjoys winning as anyone else,” Wooyoung smirks and sits in San’s place. “At least he is distracted from whatever is going on in his head,” he ads with a small exhale. “So, one round only?” he looks at Yunho who nods with an almost vicious smirk appearing on his face.

As they start, San returns to the room with another beer in his hand. He flops on the floor behind Yunho and grabs one of the now cold pizza slices and chews on it, his eyes wide on the screen. He feels himself eating at nearly the speed of the race and as the last piece disappears in his mouth the race is over and…

“Well damn it!” Wooyung lets the controller land on the floor. “You won!” he turns to Yunho. “You actually won!” he cheers instead of being upset and before San or Yunho can react gives the taller man a big hug. “You have reached some sort of nirvana from not playing until now or something,” he sounds incredibly excited and moves to change the game.

“Let’s try something else,” he goes through the offered collection. In the TV reflection, he catches San. He’s sipping from the beer can again and his face shows a mixed emotion between being upset and being sad. A bit too slowly it dawns on WooYoung what is the catch in all this. He smirks and pretends he doesn’t notice.

“Mortal Kombat! How about that?” he turns to the other two and even though pouty San still nods. Yunho nods too but looks more confused about what the game implies. It’s another training session for the latter regarding the buttons and this time Wooyoung pays extra attention to San’s expressions. The result of the observation brings him joy, as maybe the feeling causing those reactions could help the blond.

By the 8th round of playing, rotating the player combination it becomes pretty clear that Yunho is even better at this than at the previous game. It almost feels as if this setting is more natural for him and there is a wild light in his eyes as he does yet another finishing move on Wooyoung’s character.

“I give up. We have a new game master in this house,” now Wooyung is the one sprawled on the floor before getting up and sauntering to the kitchen. “Want another beer?” he looks at San who is on his third already. He is not a lightweight and is holding up perfectly well, so he nods. As he is almost at the kitchen he looks back over his shoulder more towards Yunho who is stretching, the controller on the floor.

“We should take the empty pizza box away,” Wooyoung notes as if casually. 

“I’ll do it,” as expected Yunho volunteers and is on his feet, collecting the box, the empty chip bowl and the empty cans laying around. His eyes meet San’s for a second and they look at each other just for a second, exchanging soft smiles. Wooyung doesn’t need any other confirmation anymore.

As Yunho enters the kitchen Wooyung starts to speak immediately, not to stay there too long and make San wander over and check on them. “San is a big scaredy-cat. He is not a coward and can put on the best brave and ‘I am okay’ face known to man, but deep inside he is terrified by a lot of things,” he states and glances at Yunho who is looking at him. “So I am not surprised he is a bit not himself,” he adds and the expression on Yunho’s face is suddenly so heartbreakingly concerned and sad, Wooyoung doesn’t think twice before speaking.

“You like him, don’t you?” he asks and Yunho’s eyes shoot at him as wide as possible.

“I…” he starts the sentence but Wooyoung shakes his head and continues his thought.

“He likes you too. Very obviously,” he points out. “We both know how kind and sweet he is. He might be the cutest person on this darn earth and before that has attracted a lot of really bad guys. He has had his heart broken with guys who just want a one night stand. Then there have been leeches who don’t want to let go. I have had to throw someone out of his previous apartment - staying there with no consent. Damn, even I felt like a leech at one point because,” Wooyung stops for a second, his eyes leaving Yunho’s. It is a bit personal but he still continues to emphasize the point of his monologue.

“I was very, very broken at one point because I lost someone very dear to me and San… he fixed me. I will be forever grateful for that and regret using him at first,” he continues. “But I already know for a fact that is not your case. And I also know he genuinely likes you. I can see that,” he smiles as he actually feels a weight lifting from his chest. Maybe, after all this time, San will finally have someone nice and worthy in his life.

“He loves skinship and showing affection, so if you are cool with that it’s the best way to show him,” he says and pats Yunho’s shoulder passing by to the fridge and taking the last two beers out.

Yunho remains in the kitchen for a moment longer. He thinks about Wooyoung’s words, his story connecting with one of the examples Seonghwa mentioned. More than that he thinks of all the nasty, disgusting people San has had to encounter. The very thought of San’s heart being broken, him being used makes Yunho’s hands ball into fists. He takes a deep breath and does his very best to calm down before returning to the room.

The game console is turned off and the 24/7 anime channel is on, airing something unidentifiable. Both San and Wooyoung have settled on the couch - Wooyoung more in the corner, San next to him with his head on Wooyoung’s shoulder. There is a small sting in Yunho’ chest and he gets that maybe San has been feeling like this the whole evening as Wooyung’s personality took over him fast. He had his own form of brightness, though dimmer than San’s, and a strange attraction to the calmness of death Yunho always carried with him.

Without saying a word Wooyoung stands up, startling San who looks up at him with questioning eyes. “Bathroom,” he replies to the silent question and saunters past Yunho who in turn goes and sits down on the couch. They sit silently, both staring at the TV screen, the episode ending card announcing it’s Fairy Tail, until San finally moves, closing the small gap between him and Yunho and rests his head on the reaper’s shoulder. 

Yunho looks down - his eyes a bit heavy, features tired - and can only smile down at him. He startles the blond a bit as he pulls his hand from under him and before San manages to move away drapes it over his shoulder. The blond lets out a small exhale and pulls his legs up on the couch, curling up next to Yunho. 

“Sorry if Wooyung is a bit too much,” he murmurs, his hands disappearing into the sleeves of the hoodie. “He usually doesn’t trust people immediately so if he is this friendly he truly likes you,” he ads.

“I should be sorry more. I am not very used to being social so I doubt I divided my attention well,” he looks down and the blond looks up, their eyes meeting. Like every time it is impossible to look away. It’s a magnetic field around both of them and they can’t pull away.

“So, I will get going,” Wooyung’s voice suddenly wakes them up and San moves away from Yunho in the speed of light. 

“Already?” he asks as he holds onto the edge of the sofa, leaning forward a bit and tapping on the floor with his feet.

“Yeah. I will catch a taxi on the main street or something,” Wooyoung fakes a yawn, grabs his jacket from the sofa and stretches as he walks to the hallway. Both San and Yunho follow him to the hallway standing at the edge of it while he puts on his shoes.

“See you soon,” San takes a step closer allowing himself to be swallowed up in a hug. Wooyoung whispers something directly in his ear which makes San tense up but Yunho can’t catch what it is. 

“You too, gaming legend,” Wooyoung keeps his arms open as San steps out of the hug and even though confused Yunho moves forward and hugs the man. “Show him you like him. He really deserves it, you know,” he whispers and Yunho has a feeling San might have received a similar message.

Wooyoung leaves minutes later, leaving the two alone in the apartment again. It’s quiet and a bit empty without the loud man. He indeed filled the space with sound and his presence well. “I hope he gets home safe,” San murmurs as he turns off the lights in the hallway and then the kitchen.

“He will. Someone is looking after him,” Yunho replies moving the coffee table back to its place and putting everything back where it should be.

“Who?” San tilts his head to the side, obviously confused by the statement, but the reaper just smiles.

“Someone I completely trust,” he replies and walks to the window, glancing out and seeing how Wooyoung’s silhouette disappears around the corner, a shadow in a wide-edge hat close by. 

“Will you sleep here or in your room?” he now turns to San who stares at nothing on the couch, obviously asking himself the same question.

“I will try the room,” the blond responds. “It’s been a long day after all,” he tries to smile but it seems that the very idea of going in that room for the night unsettles him. He waves goodnight to Yunho with his sweater-paw and walks to his room just return a second later.

“Thanks. For hanging out and having fun and all that,” he says and quickly walks across the room, just for a second attaching himself to Yunho in a hug the reaper doesn’t even manage to return properly before shuffling to his room quickly. The door shuts and Yunho is left alone in the room.

With a sigh, Yunho sits down in the chair by the window. He hears the movement in the other room, the shower running and then rustling again before everything falls silent. The very fact how attentively he listens proves to him he might be in big trouble. Wooyoung was right at least about Yunho. Even with very subtle actions, it was that easy to catch onto him. Yunho knew that already for a moment about his own feelings, but obviously putting a distance didn’t work as something constantly pulls him to San.

He leans back in the chair and keeps on thinking about Wooyoung’s words. About how terrified deep down San can be and that, actually, he has more than just one reason to be right now. About how he craves closeness. 

“Screw it,” Yunho stands up from the chair and marches to the door of San’s room, stopping in front of it for a moment before gently knocking. There is a quiet ‘yeah’ from the inside and Yunho opens the door, being determined to probably do the most stupid thing in almost 300 years.


	10. -10-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case you are tweeting about the story, use #YourLightFF !!! I will check it once in a while! :D Also find me @ BeanSensei  
> If anyone ever wants to draw art for this, I would love that a lot.

The room is almost completely dark if not the line of light coming from the gap in the curtains. The blanket is almost fully pulled over a frame hidden underneath it, just two eyes and a messy, maybe still damp nest of blond hair peeking from the very edge and looking at Yunho. San has turned his back to the window while still settling more on the window side of the bed. His face is swallowed by the dark shadows, but Yunho can still see everything clearly.

He walks around the bed and, even though his heart is beating like mad in his chest, dares to sit down on the edge of the bed. It is a moment of complete silence - San looking at Yunho from his blanket cocoon and the reaper looking right back at him - before Yunho dares to speak.

“San… Wooyoung got me thinking about something...” he starts and he is not entirely sure how to phrase what he wants to ask, what he wants to say, but he tries nevertheless. “San, if you, at any point now or in the future or even past, feel scared even if just a bit, please, tell me,” he knows his words are a bit of a mess. “I am not much of help probably as I am quite a scary thing myself but if I can help even a bit…”

“You’re not scary,” San murmurs from under the blanket, interrupting Yunho. “To me, you are the opposite of scary. I feel safe with you around,” he tries to hide more under the blanket while still keeping his eyes on Yunho.

“I… I am glad to know that,” Yunho can’t keep a smile back as weight leaves his shoulders at least a bit. At least he isn’t scary for San. “What about everything else? Honestly,” he almost feels like talking to a child who has night terrors, but he knows well enough he isn’t and the things they already have experienced are beyond any nightmares.

“I’m terrified,” comes a small voice from under the blanket and at that very second Yunho’s heart shatters. He is about to say something but San continues speaking instead.

“I’m horrified by the thought of demons existing, let alone hunting me. I’m scared they will go after my friends, after Wooyoung or just anyone near me. I’m…” he stops for a moment and for a second disappears under the blanket completely. “I am mortified something will happen to you too,” he mumbles and Yunho raises his hand to pull the blanket off San’s head. He hesitates for a second but still does it - gently and slowly and only as far as to see San’s eyes.

“I’m here. And I will make sure nothing happens to you or the ones close to you...”

“And yourself,” San quickly adds and Yunho has to smile, he can’t keep it back. 

“And myself. I promised to you, didn’t I?” he gently pats San’s shoulder over the blanket and his hand gets stuck in a rhythmic, calming patting motion. The same warmth he felt when he carried San to his bed a few nights back starts wrapping around him but now. As his own feelings have been so openly named in words, sadly by someone else, it seems even stronger.

“Then… stay close to me,” San’s voice this time doesn’t help to get out of the strange state of trance, but rather enhances it. His whole face finally appears from under the blanket and he looks directly at Yunho. “Stay with me,” his voice carries the same worry about his words as Yunho felt in his own. “Tonight… and later on too,” he half whispers and averts his eyes for a second before staring back at Yunho again. “Please.”

“This might be the craziest thing I’ve done in all these 300 years,” he smiles and stands up, San’s eyes still on him, just to sit at the head-end of the bed, resting his back against the headboard, looking down at the blond who stares back at him. “But I will stay, tonight and any other time you need me,” he feels how the smile creeps on his features again. Before San he didn’t even remember smiling more than once in a year, but here he is not being able to control his expressions.

“Sacrificing yourself for someone who doesn’t love you is crazier,” San murmurs and for a second everything is quiet until San moves closer. His hand reaches out from the side of the blanket and takes Yunho’s. He sometimes seems weak and fragile, but his grip is strong and determined.

The latter doesn’t hesitate to welcome San’s hand in his, squeezing it lightly. “But what if I know they love me the same way I love them? Would it still be crazy?” he asks, his thumb running soothing circles on San’s hand.

“Even then it would be insane,” San responds, his eyes on their locked hands. “So don’t. Okay?” he looks up and even in the almost completely dark room his eyes sparkle as if all stars from the sky outside suddenly decided to reside in them. He is breathtaking and Yunho can’t look away.

“I won’t break my promise,” the reaper responds and his eyes can’t leave San even when the blond looks away. He holds onto Yunho’s hand a bit tighter and Yunho returns the strength of the grip.

“Good,” the blond murmurs and it seems that he is slowly falling asleep. His lids fall shut, one long breath leaving his lungs before settling into a calm pattern. However, his hand remains firmly holding onto Yunho’s and the reaper doesn’t intend to let go either. A bit unwillingly he looks at the window, rather than the calm face of the sleeping man.

Yunho wanted to say something else, to maybe do something else - to express more of the bubbling sensation in his chest, but it seems enough for now. It’s enough and more to just know that his place is right here - next to San.

  
  


Maybe San has never slept better and not just recently but in his entire life. No night terrors, no fear waking him up. Just wonderful, warm and fulfilling sleep filled with the softest dreams that would make one’s toes curl from the cheesy cuteness they contained. He wakes up slowly, not knowing what time it is and honestly he doesn’t care either. His eyes open on their own and he is met with a black fabric he recognizes as a shirt. His arm is wrapped around something tightly, his head resting on something moving and it takes him a moment to understand what this all is. When he grasps it instead of pulling away he snuggled closer - he is sleeping on Yunho.

He remembers very clearly the reaper coming to his room, the short conversation, and Yunho promising to stay. The position San fell asleep has changed drastically but he doesn’t even consider complaining. His chest bubbles joyfully and the cheesy scenes from his dreams - all involving the tall man - float back to him and he feels his cheeks heating up. Just yesterday he felt the fear that cannot be put in words in controlling everything he does, but this morning has brought the complete opposite. 

He tightens his grip around the man and nuzzles more into his chest, small satisfied noises leaving him as he truly has not felt better. Nothing could improve this, he thinks, but as a hand lazily starts stroking his head while another wraps around him, holding him close, San is ready to burst from joy. Demons, grim reapers, life threats - nothing mattered at this moment more than being this close to Yunho. Even if the latter thinks San is still sleeping and won’t remember this.

He hesitates for a moment on whether to speak up or not, fearing the moment could be ruined, but at the same time, he doubts he can contain the giddy feeling for much longer. “Good morning,” he whispers quietly and he can feel how Yunho’s whole body tenses. In response, he changes the position of his head a bit - fitting it more onto Yunho’s chest. He can clearly hear a strong, rapid heartbeat coming through and his own heart starting to speed along.

“Good morning,” Yunho responds a bit hesitant but as San doesn’t even consider moving and neither does Yunho.

“Is there a story on how this happened?” San asks listening to Yunho’s heartbeat calming down slowly. He would love to see the look on the reaper’s face, but he doesn’t want to move at the same time. It feels too cozy, too right, too much like home for him to move.

“You had a nightmare soon after you fell asleep and you were calling for me,” Yunho explains, his fingers starting to thread through San’s hair and if the latter could, he would start purring, but he just lets out yet another satisfied whimper. 

“I wasn’t sure what to do and as you desperately tried to hold onto something. This was the best I could think of,” the taller man continues and San just barely hears him, feeling like a cat in summer afternoon - as satisfied as one could be, curled up in the warmth coming from the reaper. How odd it is - the man doing death’s job radiates nothing but warmth. Maybe those who said death is cold are wrong. So many things have been proven wrong lately San wouldn’t even be surprised. 

“This is the best solution,” San murmurs and pushes his head up a bit - more into Yunho’s touch. “I don’t even remember the nightmare,” he adds and lets out a slow, long breathes letting his eyes to flutter shut again. He’s not sleeping, not at all, as his conscious mind tells him to savor every second of this, but with his eyes closed it is easier to concentrate. On the strong heartbeat, the rhythmical breathing, fingers running through his hair. At this moment San is ready to personally fight any demon to stay here like this for as long as possible. 

The perfect moment, which Yunho doesn’t seem to mind a single bit either, gets ruined and by no one else but San himself as his stomach rumbles loudly. In a second he jumps out of Yunho’s embrace, hand on his stomach, looking down at the loud traitor. He turns his gaze to Yunho - looking at San with an expression that clearly held back laughter, his mouth forming a tight line, his eyes big. More than that San for a second is distracted by the tousled black hair, how the silver chain with the delicate feather is resting on the pillow next to him - still around his neck but out of the way from the previously sleeping San. A morning like this is what San truly wants.

His stomach rumbles again and this time San feels the heat rushing to his cheeks and he looks down at the traitor again. His attention, however, jumps back to Yunho who has gotten out of the bed. He stretches a bit and goes forward to open the curtains, letting in the light. He turns to San with a smile and with the light falling behind him he looks absolutely like an angel.

“Breakfast is needed, right?” he smiles down at San who is still sitting on the bed. The latter nods with a pout. No perfect morning could last forever.

“I will wash up then,” the pout turns into a frown as he scoots out of the bed. His head is already in full action on how to get Yunho to stay with him the following night and he doesn’t notice his legs tangled in the blanket. His balance is lost and the floor seems to be his next destination, if not Yunho, who catches him in the most cliche way possible. 

“Can I this be even more embarrassing?” San murmurs as Yunho steadies him on his feet.

“Well…” the taller man starts and the blond instantly looks up. “You drooled in your sleep a little,” he says with an amused expression while San is ready to fight whoever is chasing him to get out of this situation. A dreamlike morning slowly has turned into his top most embarrassing moments. He feels his head to be deep, tomato red but a hand gently fixing his hair makes the heat to step away for a moment.

“Cutie,” Yunho says with the sweetest smile and only when San looks at him with eyes wide does he understand he said it out loud. They stare at each other for a second before Yunho is the one who takes a step back. The tips of his ears are red and in a way, San is happy it’s not only him.

“While you get ready I will leave for not more than 10 minutes to change. Will you mind?” he changes the topic quickly. “They might not get dirty from me but you know,” he explains but gets a frown in return.

“You can say it. It’s because I drooled on you,” San pouts and for a second Yunho is lost for words just until San breaks into a laugh. “Don’t worry! I get it! And I will be fine for 10 minutes, right?” he now smiles and as the moment has become quite sweet his empty stomach roars again.

“Can you shut up?” San exclaims at his own middle section, a muffled laugh making him look up. Of course, Yunho is barely holding back, his hand covering his mouth as he stares at the blond

“Go and change,” this time he actually pouts. He turns around on his heel and walks into the bathroom. A lot of things roam around his head, but in the same way as the previous few days. It’s all just cute and a bit embarrassing but without the heavy feeling of fear and concern that weight him down. San just feels giddy and like the apparent emptiness in the stomach is filled with zooming colibries.

He takes his time for no particular reason to get out his improvised pajamas. He tames the nest on his head a bit and opts for another one of his university hoodies but in deep gray along with black slacks. It’s casual but nice and looking in the mirror he no longer looks as tired and he doesn’t feel like that either. 

The blond hasn’t timed how long he took but as he goes to the living room he can hear rustling in the kitchen which becomes his new destination. He walks to the door quietly and looks inside from the door aisle not having the nerve to ruin the scene before him.

Yunho has obviously returned. He has changed into a black, long-sleeved v-neck, tucked into a similar pair of black jeans, only small details making them different from the previous pair. The silver chain of his necklace rests on his prominent collarbones and barely touches the exposed skin a bit lower. The sleeves of the shirt are rolled up as he washes up some berries that have been resting in the fridge since their shopping trip and placing them into one a mint green bowl.

When the kettle clicks, he dries his hands and turns to it immediately, pouring water over the coffee in the two matching cartoon strip mugs the scent of coffee filling the air. A bag from the bakery rests on the counter too and as soon as Yunho opens it, the aroma of fresh bread mixes with the coffee and San’s stomach grumbles, making the reaper turn around.

“Breakfast?” he asks with a smile and San has to actually hold back not to gasp. This is probably closest to a complete boyfriend fantasy one could want. He nods and hopes there is not too much red in his cheeks. He barely hears Yunho asking if he will eat here or in the living room and as barely he opts for the kitchen.

They both rest against the counter, Yunho sipping on his coffee slowly while San nibbles on the croissant and berries. It’s quiet and peaceful and San can’t help but look at Yunho once in a while. What if he was just human? Not a supernatural being but just a man like San, would fate have been gracious enough to let them meet? Would they have a breakfast like this too?

“Is everything okay?” Yunho’s voice snaps San out of his thoughts and he nods, finishing off the berries and coffee. 

“Yeah. I was just thinking about things,” he replies verbally too and as Yunho places his mug into the sink is about to wash it, but Yunho’s hands stop him. He says nothing, just smiles a little and rolls up the sleeves of San’s hoodie. He doesn’t leave and instead takes the towel, drying off each item and placing it away. If not the task at hand San would continuously stare at him.

“Is there something you want to do today? Go somewhere?” Yunho asks hanging the towel in its spot. He looks date-ready and a small voice oddly sounding like Wooyung tells San he should use this and go somewhere but he ignores it.

“No. Staying at home, watching TV is good enough. We can play games too,” San shakes his head at the question and sways from foot to foot before turning around and leading the way to the living room. He admittedly feels a bit awkward, even more so when both of them sit down on the sofa and there is the usual distance between them with a pile of pillows almost forming a wall in his mind even though there are no more than 4 there.

He tries to pay attention to the anime running on the screen but his eyes seem to travel to Yunho more than to the screen and his whole being itches to move closer now that he has experienced it properly once. It feels a bit silly and San can’t force himself to move. In a search for advice, he turns to his phone quickly messaging Wooyoung.

_ ‘Yunho stayed over,’  _ he types out and hopes he doesn’t come off as rude but it doesn’t seem like Yunho minds. The answer comes immediately -  _ ‘makes sense ;P’ _ . San frowns at his phone and sends another message -  _ ‘I think I am catching feelings. Big time _ .’ The reply to that comes even faster -  _ ‘wbk’ _ . Another message comes through right away -  _ ‘you have caught all of them already.’ _ That doesn’t make San’s situation any easier, however.

_ ‘So what do I do?’  _ he types and glances at the man relatively next to him who seems to not notice San with his phone, or he pretends not to. The phone buzzes and this time the reply is longer -  _ ‘Go with it. Take a chance. I met him once, I know, but I fully approve of him. So you have my blessing to get all mushy… or all naughty :D.’ _ San’s eyes got wide and he puts his phone away fast.

His eyes travel to Yunho again. Just to go with it. Well, they are stuck together for who knows how long so why not, right? What harm could it bring?

A bit hesitant he removes the ‘pillow wall’ and slides closer over the couch. He is still not sure if Yunho is not noticing his movement or decides to ignore it. The reaper doesn’t even move when San sits down next to him so the blond takes the next step and just like last night lays his head on Yunho’s shoulder. He waits for what Yunho will do and tenses up when the man moves but as soon as his arm drapes over San’s shoulders and pulls him closer the blond can exhale calmly. He wraps his arms around Yunho’s middle and snuggles closer.

Yunho doesn’t really have a scent. It’s not fresh or earthy - it’s simply not there. Like the wind that brings along scents from everywhere. Right now the scent of coffee and pastries linger around him but it fades slowly. There is no perfume or even no scent to his clothes, which is a bit odd but comforting at the same time. His warmth reminds of home, of warm blankets and summer afternoon sun but with no scent attached to it, it does feel a bit empty. It is almost as if it’s a missing piece of a puzzle that someone else needs to complete - to make the feeling of sanctuary complete. Maybe the scent of San’s instant coffee and his fabric softener completes it.

San looks up at the calm, soft features and then back to his fingers fiddling with the fabric of his shirt. There’s just a soft smile on Yunho’s face and he doesn’t seem to mind. At this very moment, everything feels perfectly calm and as ordinary as it could be. Despite the commotion on the screen, San feels so at ease he lets his eyes fall shut as a wave of sleep takes over knowing he will wake up right there - in Yunho’s embrace. 

-

The next four days are probably on the list of top ten best days in San’s life. They are not filled with adventures or wild experiences but they are perfectly calm and he can’t wish for anything more.

He feels like a giddy boy first in love when Yunho holds his hand when they walk to the grocery store or the cafe - his hand almost disappearing in Yunho’s. His heart does jumps when Yunho continuously makes him breakfast, looking like he has climbed straight out of a drama scene. Above all, it is almost impossible not to react to the smallest, softest touches like fixing San’s hair or wiping something off his face or linking their fingers together as they sit on the couch. His touch is always soft, warm and gentle and maybe, just maybe San has wondered once or twice how it would feel not only on his hands. That thought alone and the colibries in the pit of his stomach that keep on dancing like crazy whenever Yunho smiles - San knows without anyone telling him he has fallen very, very deeply for the grim reaper.

What does not help the overflowing feelings are the mornings and evenings. Every evening he falls as asleep and every morning he wakes up on probably the best pillow he could ask for. Yunho’s steady heartbeat being his alarm clock and lullaby in one. It is not even a question of whether he stays next to San at night anymore. Admittedly, San is living his absolute dream but he also fears it could come to a sudden end.

The fifth morning of Yunho being San’s personal pillow brings a surprise. San wakes up not in his usual spot. His eyes don’t meet Yunho’s chest as the first thing but the bed instead. For a second panic settles in but he calms down when he realizes the reaper’s arm is serving as his pillow while his other is draped over San’s middle - his back against Yunho’s chest. Carefully, San glances over his shoulder and has to hold back a small whimper at the most adorable sight he has seen.

Slowly, he turns around to face Yunho who is without a doubt sound asleep. Finally being the guardian of San has taken its effect and made him fall asleep. His eyes are shut, long eyelashes brushing over his cheeks lightly. His full lips are just slightly parted, his breathing calm and he looks like the softest puppy San has ever laid his eyes on. 

As slowly he raises his hand and smoothes way few of the black locks from Yunho’s face. He runs his fingers feather lightly over the arch of the reaper’s eyebrows, the bridge of his nose, the peak of his cheeks and stops at his lips. Admittedly, San has had this thought in his head for a few days now but he hasn’t acted on it - the thought of kissing Yunho. Now, staring at him so closely the thought is even more prominent in his mind. Timidly, he moves up until his face is at the same level as Yunho’s. Every single feature on the man is beautiful and San is stuck admiring them for a moment before he dares to move closer, however, a voice stops him.

“Good morning!” a deep, gentle voice greets and San jumps back and up, Yunho waking up at the same time. A man San doesn’t recognize stands next to his desk. He removes the wide-edge hat, revealing blinding blond hair and strong features, his eyes kind as he looks at both San and slowly waking up Yunho.

“Seonghwa… Is it an emergency?” Yunho is up in a sitting position as soon as he understands who is their visitor. His voice is groggy and his eyes half open as he forces himself awake.

“Not at all. Not yet, at least,” Seonghwa smiles and even lets out a small laugh at his sleepy colleague. “Sleep is nice next to someone, right?” he asks and Yunho turns to San who is sitting on the bed behind him. He nods, his lips curling up into a smile and San feels the colibris in his chest and stomach go wild again.

“Let’s hope this mess ends as soon as we predict because I would love to have a nap too,” the blond reaper lets out a small sigh and looks down at the pure white feather hanging around his neck contrasting with his all-black outfit. “That is not why I am here, though,” he snaps himself out of the moment and his expression changes to serious. “There is movement so any day now,” he looks at the window. “Pay extra attention to the marks. I am sure they can’t bypass them, but they will try. So I would suggest not to sleep anymore no matter how nice it feels,” he looks back to Yunho who nods, rubbing his face from the remains of sleep. 

“It will be over soon, so…” Seonghwa looks at San this time and then back at Yunho. “Just be ready,” he puts the hat back and with a single step disappears into the shadow, yet the feather around his neck doesn’t glow at all, which seems odd to San but he can’t focus on that.

“What now?” San asks quietly and crawls forward to sit on the edge of the bed next to Yunho. “Is there something we should pay extra attention to?” he looks at Yunho who is deep in thoughts. His hands holding on the edge of the bed so hard his knuckles are white. San doesn’t even think twice to reach his hands and unhook Yunho’s from the bed, taking it in his. That seems to snap the reaper out of it.

“It will be safer not to go anywhere. And I need to be more alert, that’s about it,” he tries to give San a comforting smile but his eyes seem so incredibly sad all colibris in San’s chest quiet down. It is almost heartbreaking to see such intense sadness in his features yet again.

“Okay. Then we can just hang out here, right?” San squeezes the reaper’s hand tighter and the man’s other hand going on top of his calms him down a bit but not completely.

“I’ll make breakfast,” Yunho pats San’s hands and pulls his away, standing up from the bed. His stature seems smaller, weaker all of a sudden and whatever Seonghwa’s words made him think about has hit him harder than expected. San stands up as well and before Yunho leaves the room walks up to him, wrapping his arms around the man’s middle and putting his head on his shoulder. He might be a bit too small for perfect back-hugs but he did his best.

“See you in 10 minutes then,” he says squeezing the larger man at his best ability.

“Mhm,” the response is simple and he can feel Yunho’s hands on his for a few seconds before he unhooks them and walks out. For the first time in a while, San feels like a fool as he does not understand which of Seonghwa’s words hit Yunho so much.

The weird, almost distant vibe carries out through the breakfast too, which Yunho leaves halfway through and walks to the living room. Even more - he sits down in the chair next to the window instead of the sofa, leaving San absolutely lost. This is not how it should be and San is not ready to let it carry on like this.

He strides over the living room and before Yunho reacts sits down on the man’s lap, his arms tightly wrapping around his torso, head on his shoulder. “San…” Yunho breathes out and San just snuggles closer in response. There is another exhale from the reaper but it is obvious he can’t keep up with the act he was trying to pull off. His arms wrap around San, pulling him as close as possible; his head rests on top of San’s and the blond could swear his breathing twitches as if he is trying not to cry.

Carefully, not to break the embrace, San lifts his head and for his surprise actually meets Yunho’s eyes - glossy and on the verge of overflowing. He sits up more, unhooking his hands from Yunho’s middle just to cup his face. He runs his thumbs over the round cheeks gently and Yunho leans into the touch with the softest, sincerest smile on his lips, yet his eyes still read endless sadness. San doesn’t know what exactly is going on but his gut is telling him to move and so he does. 

Slowly, he leans forward, ready to complete the kiss he didn’t manage to earlier. He is just a centimeter away when for his surprise no one else but Yunho stops him. His hands are on San’s waist as he gently pushes him away and shakes his head, San’s hands falling from his face to his shoulders. 

“It’s already too much as it is. Let’s not make it even more painful, okay?” Yunho tries to smile but it doesn’t work and he just looks away from San as if seeing him is what makes it painful.

“Why… why painful? Explain to me. Please,” San has no intention to move and he knows Yunho doesn’t want him to move either judging by the way he is still holding onto his waist. “Yunho… Please…” San tries to catch Yunho’s eyes at least a bit as he leans more towards the man.

“This is ending, San. Today, maybe tomorrow - this is ending,” Yunho looks back at him and San almost wishes he hadn’t, the look on his face breaking his heart as it’s pure sadness and pain.

“Isn’t it good? That I won’t be in danger anymore?” he asks as cheerfully as he can, his heart shattering as he looks into Yunho’s glossy eyes.

“Yes. Yes, of course. But… all this will end too,” Yunho’s hands move and San is terrified for a second he will be pushed away but instead Yunho threads his long fingers through San’s hair in the same calming manner as always. “There won’t be no need for me to stick around or to be in your life.  _ All _ of this will end,” he adds and San stops breathing for a second, the reality breaking through the dream he has been living the past few days.

“What… what do you mean you won’t have a reason to stick around…” San murmurs and doesn’t know where to look as he feels his chest tightening without looking at Yunho’s pained expression.

“Reapers should not interact with humans without a reason,” he says so quietly San barely hears it and he is as close to the man as possible. “But don’t worry… You won’t remember me anyway,” he continues and his voice breaks. San’s eyes meet his and as a failed smile appears on Yunho’s features, a tear rolling down his cheek, more following right after and the blond reaches the last point in his own sudden heartbreak. His hands are on Yunho’s cheeks, wiping away the droplets falling from his always so beautiful cinnamon-colored eyes.

“I will remember you. What are you talking about? Making yourself all sad,” he needs to do his very best to control what emotions he is letting out himself. Yunho shaking his head does not help with it at all.

“The Librarian has the ability to erase memories. In cases like this he is asked to use it,” Yunho explains and San can barely inhale.

“No,” he shakes his head. “I don’t want it,” he keeps shaking his head. “No, no, no,” the blond chants and looks straight into Yunho’s eyes, holding the man’s head in place with his hands on his cheeks. “I want to remember everything. Every single moment,” he emphasizes.

“You… you would keep your memories regardless, right? So you would remember everything and suffer through it alone while I just happily live on? No. I don’t want or need no memory erasure,” he rants, his own lips shaking.

“San… it’s not that simple,” Yunho finally speaks, his voice unstable and it pierces through San like thousand daggers.

“It can be, no?” San’s emotions are starting to take over him and he knows he won’t be able to hold them in for much longer. “Jongho said I can be bound to your new notebook, right? When you will get a new one,” he scrambles for ideas and tries to put them together in a coherent sentence. “Let’s do that instead, okay? Then…” his eyes start to get foggy and he tries to blink the rising tears away. “Then if you can’t meet me just like that… we both will have something to wait for.”

“Are you asking me to wait for the day you die?” Yunho’s voice doesn’t sound like him anymore and San is on his last thread of composure, he knows it.

“That’s better than forgetting you. That’s better than you suffering forever,” the blond hears his own voice shaking. “I can’t… I don’t want to lose what I am feeling even if it will be painful,” he feels that final thread breaking, tears escaping his own eyes too. “Then I will rather be hunted by demons forever…” he whispers and doesn’t resist when Yunho pulls him into the tightest hug.

“Don’t say that,” Yunho whispers as his head gently rests on top of San’s. “I knew this was a bad idea. I knew I would fall again but I hoped I wouldn’t drag you along,” he half whispers, that being the best way to control his voice. “I’m sorry,” he places a gentle kiss on top of San’s head and the latter raises his head up.

Both of their eyes are still watery and red, their breathing still uneven but that says more than words could. Simultaneously they inch closer to each other, their lips meeting and San feels a shiver going through his whole body as well as Yunho’s. It’s a short, momentary lip-lock before they pull apart and look at each other. Slowly, San moves to straddle Yunho’s lap with his legs on either side of the man’s thighs. He cups the face of the reaper again, wiping the last remains of tears away.

“It will be painful either way,” he smiles as genuinely as he can before leaning down, kissing Yunho again. He feels the reaper’s hands go to the small of his back, pulling him closer. With a small whimper, he allows Yunho to take over the control of the kiss, guiding their lips and wraps his arms around the man’s shoulders, fingers tangling in the ends of his hair. 

Kissing him is heavenly. He feels the same energy and warmth Yunho’s touches gave but tens, hundreds even times stronger and it washes over him in intense waves. No other kiss has ever felt like this and he knows none will ever feel like that either. Even though it will hurt, later on, feeling this is worth it. Being this close to Yunho is worth it and he allows himself to melt away in the embrace and endless kisses.


	11. - 11 -

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case you are tweeting about the story, use #YourLightFF !!! I will check it once in a while! :D Also find me @ BeanSensei  
> If anyone ever wants to draw art for this, I would love that a lot.

San curls more into a ball on the chair as he stares out of the window. He has let Yunho stand up and go make them coffee and dinner for San after they have been on the chair, unable to let go of each other, for nearly the whole day. He knows well enough both of their hearts are still heavy - he knows his is - and even the countless soft kisses didn’t make it better. Maybe, as Yunho warned, they made it worse. But at this point, it doesn’t matter. It will hurt either way.

Up till this morning, he hadn’t even thought of what would happen when all of this would come to an end. He had almost forgotten this would ever end to begin with as being with Yunho made him so incredibly happy. The reality he is now facing sucked - that is the only word he could us that described how he felt. 

He fishes out his phone from the pocket of his slacks and writes to the only person he can truly write to - Wooyoung.  _ ‘Woo :(( _ ‘ - he starts it off vaguely as he needs to figure out how to explain what he feels to someone who doesn’t know anything about demons, reapers, and angels.  _ ‘Hey~ why the sad face?’ _ comes and almost instant response and San hesitates only for a second before typing  _ ‘Yunho will have to leave :((((‘  _ he feels his chest aching as he writes it but he has to talk about it with someone.

_ ‘What do you mean leave?????? Where???? Why??????’  _ the response is rather quick and it doesn’t give much time for San to prepare a more elaborate response.  _ ‘He will have to move. Because of work… very far away… :(‘ _ he writes and it is almost funny how actually true it is.  _ ‘NO! But why?? So sudden?’  _ San can clearly see the face WooYoung is pulling in his head and that kind of makes him smile but just for a moment.  _ ‘I was with him when he got the call. He doesn’t want to but he will have to. :( and probably in the next few days too’ _ San types out the truth but dresses in different words. 

He places the phone on the windowsill, waiting for probably a very lengthy response from Wooyung. It has already started to become dark outside and it might be just his tired eyes but he could swear something is moving outside in the shadows. He tries to concentrate more on the movement but a sudden sound of water dripping catches his attention. His eyes travel up and grow big upon seeing a deep red mark on his window. It looks like the window itself is bleeding, dripping onto the windowsill. 

“Yunho!” he exclaims and scrambles out of the chair, knocking it over with a bang. He ignores his phone vibrating and stumbles to the kitchen, Yunho rushing out right in front of him and catching him. The tall man’s eyes grow wide at the mark. He turns his head - the same kind of mark dripping down the front door too.

“Damn it,” he utters and looks at San who is now shaking - the danger too real and too close. “San,” he calls out but it seems like the blond doesn’t hear him - his eyes on the bloody mark. “San!” Yunho repeats and takes San’s face in his hands, making him look back. “Get ready, fast. We need to go,” he instructs and tries to be as calm as possible even though he is far from it.

San nods and as Yunho lets go of him as he first waddles to the window and grabs his phone and then comes back to put on his shoes. Yunho’s full attire is on in a blink of an eye, his focus now on San. As soon as the blond stands up with his shoes on, he helps him get into his jacket and puts the keys to his apartment in his pocket. 

The signs start to bleed more and Yunho utters a curse under his breath. Without even needing to be asked San steps as close to him as possible, wrapping his arms around Yunho’s middle tightly. Yunho does the same in return with one hand while putting the hat on with the other. Everything is rushed and seems unorganized but he has no time for ceremonies. His necklace glows brightly and with one step he takes them into the nearest shadow. 

The exit point for them is the park gate. As it is late no one is around - the park completely empty and almost eerie with sparse streetlamps next to pathways and benches throwing ominous shadows. Each tree looks like a possible villain, each shadow seems to be lurking until it could attack. In a way, it was perfect for the upcoming encounter.

“Stay close, okay?” Yunho whispers to San, who nods in response, his hand already tightly holding onto Yunho’s. His eyes are full of fear but he is putting on the best brave face he has. The light that always radiates from him - that has dragged Yunho so deeply into him to a point of no return - is flickering, the sheer terror affecting it, but it’s still strong. And maybe despite a promise Yunho is ready to do everything and anything to protect it.

He takes the lead guiding both of them through the dimly lit pathways, deeper into the park - away from all possible eyes of passersby. As they turn a corner another shadow appears next to Yunho which San recognizes as the man who visited them in the morning - Seonghwa. Another one appears on Yunho’s other side, belonging to the friend to the cafe - Mingi. The third one emerges behind San. He has never seen the man - maybe a bit shorter than San himself - but at the same time, he has a feeling he knows him. Maybe as a face in the crowd, someone always close by but not close enough to know who he is. The 5 men rush through the park to its furthest, the most secluded corner where they finally stop.

Instantly a circle forms around San, facing each direction. Everything seems suspicious and possibly malicious. Every branch rustling, every footstep somewhere in the park. Compared to daylight it all seems evil and sinister, all after San and no one else.

“Do we know how many?” Mingi is the one who speaks first, the spear with midnight purple hue appearing in his hand, the same type of weapon materializing in Yunho’s and the unknown man’s hands too. Seonghwa, however, has a long, wavy dagger in each of his. There is a distinguished difference between the bright blond reaper and the other three - from his bright hair, white feather, his weapons to the very way he carried himself. 

“No less than four,” the blond reaper responds. “Maybe 5 if they smell me,” he adds and a grin appears on his face. “So it will be rather fun.”

“I disagree,” Yunho’s voice comes extremely serious and deep, absolutely not sounding like his usual self. “Nothing about this is fun,” he retorts and looks at Seonghwa.

“Sorry. You know I won’t take this lightly,” the blond man smiles softly and then turns to San. “You better hide him a bit, we can change the formation,” he instructs and this time Yunho just silently nods. He walks over to San and takes his hand, guiding him more to the side in a shadow of a nearby tree. The other three close in forming a semicircle around the spot. For San’s surprise, Yunho takes off his coat and places it on top of the blond.

“Don’t you need the whole thing?” San asks looking at the reaper before him, the rim of the hat hiding his face from San. “Yunho, will you be safe without it?” he asks and tries his best to find the reaper’s eyes. “Yunho?” he insists and the bespoken finally looks at him. It’s hard to read the emotions controlling his features both due to the poor lighting and because of how complex they are.

“It’s nothing more but a big pocket,” Yunho tries to smile but his smile is forced and awkward. “All I need is the hat and the necklace,” he adds and San wants to believe him. “This will block you from their sight. They will know you are here but not exactly where as long as you stay here, keep quiet and are covered with it,” the reaper continues to explain. “I will keep you safe,” he says before leaning forward and pressing a kiss on San’s forehead.

“Remember what you promised,” San says loud enough for Yunho to hear but still quietly. “Don’t do anything crazy,” he looks up at the reaper, wishing he could see his eyes but the hat hides them once again. The man just nods and takes his place in the formation between Mingi and Seonghwa as they change from a half circle to a more sparse setting but still protecting San, yet in a less obvious way. Something deep down told San he is not going to keep that promise.

Long minutes pass until 6 figures emerge from a shadow right in front of the reapers. They all seem to be wearing suits with black button-downs - all black with red handkerchiefs in the breast pocket. Their hair varies in different shades of deep red, small burgundy horns poking out on either side of their foreheads. If not those, they all would look dashingly handsome - devilishly even. 

“Where is he?” one of them, an exceptionally tall man, steps forward as the group stops. “I bet somewhere behind you all,” the tall man arches his eyebrow and looks over the reapers. “Hey! If you come out now we can end this quickly!” he calls out but the only reaction he gets is Seonghwa holding back his laugh.

“And what will you try next? Ask us politely?” the blond reaper asks in a mocking tone. “I would rather suggest for you to leave and actually end this quickly,” his tone is almost like the one would use when talking to a child.

“The same goes for you! Step aside and don’t get your reaper-self involved,” one of the men in the row decides to reply and earns a strong gaze from Seonghwa, making him take half a step back. The blond turns to the tall man again.

“So disciples can speak out of place now? What a leader you are, young sir,” he mocks the man again. The same demon who spoke out of place is obviously not satisfied with such remarks and launches forward at the blond just to be stopped by a dagger at his chin. The other 5 let out a surprised noise seeing the weapon, even the taller man having a shake in his knees for a second.

“And they even dare to do this? Pathetic,” Seonghwa scoffs and the demon who as all about a fight takes a step back immediately. 

“Traitor,” the tall man utters through clenched teeth, his own long daggers appearing in his hands, his companions following along with summoning theirs.

“I am rather a traitor,” Seonghwa starts with a proud smile, “than a disgrace to my whole race,” his smile falls while the feather around his neck flashes a bright light, blinding the suited men. Using the moment the reapers all move forward - without a battle cry, just quietly and quickly but with enough force to push the confused demons a few steps back.

Crimson and purple sparkles jump around in the night as the daggers clash with the spears. Low grunts and yelps echo around in the chilly air, more so coming from the demons than the reapers. Watching from the side San feels like he is observing a well-choreographed theater play.

The demons move forcefully, with full strength and sparing no energy. Each attack they launch is filled with raw power channeled through their weapons and occasionally their limbs. They jump up and kick off trees to launch forward, creating an almost aerial show. The reapers move in a completely different way. Their movements are more fluid and dance-like, their attires with flowing coats and hats hiding their faces almost look like they are shadows that have come to life, if not the brightly glowing spears. The attacks they engage in are all about precision and sharpness - each stab with the spear causing damage. They keep holding the demons at spears length from themselves avoiding all possible injuries and at least that puts San a bit at ease. Well, all of them but Seonghwa.

The blond man twirls between three demons going straight for him as if they were mannequins. He is like a dancing flame, the glowing white from his feather mixing with the red jumping from his blades and his wildly blazing eyes. His expression is almost insane - as if he is enjoying each moment of this, each curse flying his direction. He constantly mocks the demons chasing him - stepping in a shadow and disappearing just to appear in a different one. It is like a game for him and if not the fluent movements it would be hard to tell whether he is a demon or a reaper. Maybe he is indeed both.

“It’s taking too long!” one of the demons yells out and whilst barely avoiding the unnamed reapers spear whistles loudly. 

“Oh you absolutely didn’t,” Seonghwa is suddenly behind him, stepping out of a shadow and thrusting the dagger through the demon's chest. With a yell, the man evaporates into nothingness. “Yunho!” the blond calls out for the tallest of the reaper group. “Go!”

He doesn’t have to be told twice as he sprints the small distance between the rustling fight and where San is hiding. The very second he reaches the human a massive hound as if claws his way from the ground whilst not leaving a trace the same time. It’s a matter of a second before it launches forward, it’s terrifying jaw wide open revealing three rows of pointed teeth. The only thing that stops him is Yunho catching the monsters open mouth with his spear. The power of the monstrosity, however, pushes Yunho on the ground on one knee and obviously takes his full strength to hold him back.

“There!” one of the demons yells and all others start to advance forward, being held back by the three reapers as much as they can. One of the demons whistles again and jumps away from Seonghwa’s dagger knowing it is coming for him.

Another monstrosity crawls out from the soil and without hesitation launches at the same spot Yunho is barely holding. It seems to falter a bit with another one of his kind already in front of it and it gives Yunho time. He allows himself to fall on his back, the spear leaving the monster's mouth. While it tries to clasp its jaws around Yunho’s head he flips the spear and thrusts it up through the hound's jaw and head. As the first one falls to the side with a whimper, disappearing into nothing yet the second spares no breathe. Just barely Yunho is able to catch him just like he did with the first one, however, this time a side of his jaw lands right on Yunho’s hand, making the reaper to let out a pained grunt.

All this time San has to bite down on his own hand not to make a single sound. He has been doing his very best the whole time even though his heart is about to jump out of his chest. He feels how his teeth might soon pierce the skin, his eyes watering from the sight of Yunho struggling with the large animal, very obvious stream of blood running down from the side of monster’s mouth where his hand is. He doesn’t even see or hear what is going around as his whole focus is on the reaper so a voice behind him startles him.

“Found you, our good Samaritan,” one of the demons is suddenly behind him, hovering right above him. San just vaguely hears Yunho’s voice over the wild growling of the hell animal and the rapid beating of his own heart. He can see the demon moving closer, flipping the blade in his hand and he has to move now, he has to do something.

In a momentary decision, he throws the coat of his shoulders, catching the demon by surprise, and in the short moment of confusion, he grabs the man’s hand with the knife and in a swift move throws him over his shoulder. He doesn’t fully follow along what he is doing himself but while the demon is confused he twists his arm behind his back until he lets go of the dagger. 

“Half-breed angel scum!” the demon hisses and San’s triumph is short-lived as he pushes up from the ground with full strength, throwing him off. In a split second the demon turns, wraps his hand around San’s throat as he slams the man against the tree he was hiding behind. It is useless to try and pry his hands off, even the precise kicks San manages to inflict do nothing. Breathing is out of the question and San can just gasp for air, unable to even flail for his life at this point.

“Get off,” he barely hears a breathy growl from where Yunho as struggling with the animal. Before the demon can respond a violet hue strikes through him and he evaporates with a final curse. San is about to hit the ground but is pulled into an embrace he recognizes immediately. His eyes are hazy and he needs a moment to catch his breath but he can clearly see Yunho in front of him.

Still, in a daze, he scans the man, his eyes stopping at a bloody mess that is his hand. He hears himself gasp out Yunho’s name but yelling from the other side of the tree blocks it out. As Yunho is about to move he clings onto his shirt desperately, looking up through the shadows of the hat and his body as if falls into ease seeing those concerned eyes looking at him. 

“Yunho! We got them!” the voice from behind the tree calls out and Yunho moves up from the ground, he takes his coat and wraps it around San again, guiding the dazed man out of the shadows, his other hand limp by his side. 

Three of the demons are on their knees, bright purple shackles glowing around their wrists, two spears pointed at them. Seonghwa stands a bit more to the side, the feather around his neck changing the color of its hue, and looks at Yunho, his face turning into a frown as he sees his hand and San by his side.

“You know I can’t take him along. It will be a lot more dangerous if something malfunctions somewhere in the middle of realms,” Seonghwa sighs and has actual regret is layered in his voice. It almost seemed that he took what has formed between Yunho and San quite personally.   


“I know,” Yunho nods and turns to San who his holding onto the coat with both of his hands. The smaller of two looks up and instantly knows something he won’t like will happen and he can’t stop it.

“We need to get them to trial and this time I can’t take you along,” Yunho lifts his good hand and gently caresses San’s cheek. “I don’t know how long it will take but…” he looks at his comrades for a second, two of them looking away while Seonghwa looks devastated at the couple, before turning back to San. “But as soon as I will be able to I will come and find you,” he whispers and leans forward, just barely kissing San’s lips ignoring the fact his hat rides up. When he moves away he pulls it back down, hiding his face in the shadow again.

“Do you promise?” San can only push these words past his lips as they quiver and hopes he won't lose his composure now. Yunho moves away from him and steps closer to Seonghwa. It is a desperate need to follow him but San remains where he is.  


“I promise,” Yunho replies, his lips twitching into a smile and even from the shadows San can see a tear rolling over his cheek from under the hat. He doesn’t manage to say a thing, Seonghwa’s necklace shining bright white again and when the light disappears, no one is there.

San has to blink his eyes a few times to grasp where he is. He is standing in the middle of the park at a late enough hour for street lights to be on. For a moment he has no idea why is here or how he got there. There is a large, black coat around his shoulders that definitely does not belong to him. He lifts it off his shoulders and looks at it. And everything hits him like a train from nowhere.

“Yunho,” the word leaves his lips without him even realizing it. His knees quiver as he collapses on the ground, gripping onto the coat with all his might. He looks around, desperately trying to find the tall owner of the coat. The ache in his chest only grows stronger - as if a part of it has been ripped out and taken to a place where San can’t follow to find it.

Everything before his eyes becomes foggy and his breath gets caught in his chest. Not a second later tears begin falling on the ground beneath him and he is unable to stop them, gasping for air as he holds the coat closer, his heart shattered to the point of no fixing without the most crucial piece missing.


	12. - 12 -

It’s hard to tell how much time it takes for San to walk back to the apartment as time doesn't seem to flow right. He has the coat wrapped around himself tightly, almost fearing it too could disappear if he lets go of it. His whole body feels heavy - the coat he is holding on weighing him down, and he is barely able to move. The stairs up turn out to be a horrible obstacle and he trips not more than once while making his way up. The keys fall from his hand four times before he gets into his apartment and kicking off his shoes is another task that almost sends him falling face first. 

Turning on the lights seems like a bother and he hopes he will be able to make it across the livingroom without falling over.  Slowly, dragging his feet over the floor, he walks to the chair next to the window, lifts it from the floor where it fell and curls up in a ball on it - the large black coat almost completely covering him. There are none and at the same time, there are hundreds of thoughts in his head to the point he can’t focus on just one so he opts for not thinking at all. He knows there might be a message from Wooyoung on his phone but he knows he won’t be able to answer anyway. What will he say? How will he explain this?

A shaky breath leaves his lips and he pulls his knees more against his chest, the coat more around himself until only the top of his head and eyes are visible. He looks at the dark, empty streets outside and despite being bundled up feels a cold shiver running through his entire body as his vision blurs with another set of tears he desperately wants to hold in.  


Death was not cold. The feeling of loss was the one who brought the cold.

As he buries his face more into the coat he suddenly wishes it had a scent. Something to tie together with the owner of the piece of clothing. Without him wearing it it is nothing more but a piece of fabric - it is no longer a magical pocket nor does it hide San from evil - and if not the owner it would be worthless. Even if it can’t give the solace San needs he still pulls it more around himself and hopes that maybe just sitting, just waiting will make him tired enough to sleep. But it does not.

As the morning sun rises behind the window he is still awake. The traitorous trails of tears on his cheeks have dried down a while ago and even though he feels something boiling up in his chest again he pushes it back. He feels tired but above that, he feels empty and he can just look at people walking around and rushing to do their daily business. He doesn’t feel hungry either, but the thought of the cute pout Yunho would have if San would even consider skipping a meal makes him move.

San leaves the coat on the chair and gets up.  His legs are numb from sitting in one position for so long and he can barely walk at first and he stumbles slowly. His eyes land on pillows piled in one corner of the couch and the controllers left on the coffee table from the day before yesterday when they played games. Even though San ended up losing most of them as soon as Yunho understood controls of each he loved each moment of it. How brightly Yunho smiled, how his eyes sparkled and how atypically loud his voice got when he got excited. Even more - how warm his hug felt when he tried to comfort pouting San. The latter couldn’t even stay upset for a moment as he was swallowed by others embrace and pulled into the depths of pillow mountain - comfortably on top of a grim reaper. 

San bites on his lower lip and walks to the kitchen. His chest tightens as two mugs stand on the counter next to each other, the coffee in them stone cold. A plate is next to a bag from the coffee shop he grew to love even more because it was not only his but their place. He lets out a shaky breath and walks to the counter. He is reluctant on pouring out the cold coffee, the purely sentimental meaning of who made it stopping his hands, but he still manages to do what’s right. However, he places the mug he doesn’t use himself on the counter next to the kettle, in case he would need it soon.

He remains in the kitchen as he forces down the croissant from the coffee shop and sips on the instant coffee he has grown to love so much. He feels pathetic and that almost makes him laugh. For how long did he know Yunho? Two weeks, perhaps? Then why was it so painful? Why does it feel like a physical part of his heart has been ripped out and taken somewhere he can't follow? What had he done such to engrave himself into San’s heart and mind so deeply the space left by him was so enormous? And it had been just a few hours. 

Sadly enough, maybe San had never felt as loved as he did with Yunho. He knew Wooyoung loved him and he did love him too but in a completely different way. Family, friends, the ahjussi from the fruit store - it all was different from the dancing colibris Yunho had set free in San’s chest. Every time the tall man was close, every time he smiled or laughed. All those times the supernatural force contained in a form of an overgrown puppy had his eyes go lad and lips pouting set the wildly buzzing birds free in San's chest. San was like a flock of sparkling colibris while Yunho was the most intriguing flower that made those little wings flutter to keep close to it. 

Does it really matter for how long he knew Yunho? He hadn’t felt happier and more content than next to him. It might be cliche in the most painful way but he felt complete next to Yunho, worthy of being fought for and it was the most unique feeling. It was not weird or odd to feel this emptiness. It was just painful.

Something falls into the coffee mug San is holding and only then he realizes he has started crying yet again. He places the mug down on the counter and hides his face in his hands and takes deep breaths, doing his best to stay calm. He couldn't let himself fall apart like this. He is so concentrated on his own breathing he doesn’t even feel another presence in the room until someone calls his name.

“San,” a voice that does not belong to the person he would like to see speaks and he looks up. It’s Seonghwa, standing in the shadow of the kitchen door aisle. “I can’t stay long, I shouldn’t even be here. But I know how much not knowing can hurt and I can’t let him or you feel such hurt,” he speaks rapidly. He looks back, as if he could see something in the shadow behind him that San can’t, the feather around his neck lightly sparkling. 

“It is a lot to ask, but wait, okay? I hope it won’t be a long wait, but you still will need to be patient. If you can promise you will wait I can tell him he has where to return to,” the bright blond sounds almost as if he is pleading but he should know he doesn’t have to.

“I’ll wait. It doesn’t matter how long,” San nods lightly making Seonghwa to smile.

“Good. Take care of yourself, please. I really, really hope it won’t be long,” he adds and takes a step back, disappearing into the shadow from which he appeared. 

Just for a moment, just lightly a sense of relief washes over San. All he had to do was to wait. He doesn’t know for how long, but at least knowing he will see Yunho again is enough of a motivation. He just needs to be patient.

“San…” Wooyoung sighs as he looks at his friend across the table from him. For days since their last messages, San had avoided him. He was not answering calls or messages and the only way how Wooyoung could catch him was when he suddenly appeared back in the university.

He has apparently gone back to work and studies, the hiatus he took being over, but looking at him it does not look like a great idea. He obviously is eating, the lunch they decided to have not remaining on the plate, but the deep, dark circles under his eyes and the apathetic look on his face are enough to make Wooyung worry… yet again.

“San, can you tell me what exactly is going on? I… I understand Yunho had to move, but… is that really it?” he asks and San puts down the fork he is holding, reaching for a glass of juice. His hand shakes a little but he controls it well. “Let me know,” Wooyoug insists and San inhales deeply before exhaling.

“He moved. Yes. It was a bit too sudden for both of us so… I kind of wanted to be alone,” he says looking at the plate before him and then at Wooyung. “Sorry,” he smiles and even though it is not his brightest smile it is absolutely genuine. That puts Wooyoung at ease at least a little.  


“I’m okay. Getting back into routine and such,” he looks away again and nods. “But I can’t seem to sleep well,” he smiles again, just barely. His statement explains a lot. “I got into a habit… of having someone next to me so now it’s weird. It feels wrong,” San explains and Wooyung can just let out a breath, looking at his friend.

“You love him that much, huh?” Wooyung asks and San nods. He would like to comment, to give advice but there are many things he can’t do either - even after years - because they remind too much of someone he loved, someone he still loves. Loss is too real of a pain for him to talk about it even now.  


“You will get used to it again, right? The routine with Yunho was a part of your life for a very short period of time only,” he blurts out and understands that maybe having someone who feels so right near only for counted days is not the best thing to point out. “You can call him, right? Or message him? Right?” he asks, trying to save the situation but as San shakes his head he once more wishes he hadn’t spoken.

“There’s no reception,” San shakes his head. “I…” he begins the sentence and seems to hesitate for a moment before continuing. “I got one message before there would be no way to contact,” a subtle smile appears again on his features. “That he will come back as soon as he can. So… I was asked to wait.”

“And you will wait?” Wooyung asks and this time San nods.

“It may take a while - no time is set. But I will wait. It doesn’t matter how much of a romantic movie cliche it is. I will wait,” he looks up, this time his smile even brighter and Wooyung can’t argue with that. There is this undeniable sparkle of determination in San’s eyes along with intense trust and hope. In a very silly way, Wooyung has something he believes in as passionately. He is not the one to ruin his friend even more.

“Okay! Then you need to take care of yourself! Imagine how upset Yunho will be when he comes back and finds you in shambles. He would first come after me for not looking after you,” he jokes and San smiles too before a pout appears.

“I’m trying,” he frowns. “I am eating well and not just ramen. I cleaned the house and I try not to be creepy and sleep with his coat,” he obviously understands what he said only after the words leave his mouth and he catches Wooyung looking at him with raised eyebrows. “He left the coat with me,” San clarifies and Wooyoung just nods.

“Anyway, I am trying. I work and go to the gym as I used to and I have handed in all assignments I missed out on… I just can’t sleep,” he frowns deeply along with the cutest pout. “Nothing helps. I can get short naps on the sofa, but the bed is out of the question,” he sighs and looks at Wooyoung for advice. “What should I do?” 

“I can’t give you no advice,” Wooyoung shakes his head. “Because I don’t want you to take meds or anything as silly as that,” he now frowns along with his friend. “For now, until you get used to it, just naps are more than nothing, I guess,” he nods. “I can offer myself for cuddles, but…”

“It wouldn’t be the same,” San finishes his sentence and both of them smile. 

San’s heart feels a bit lighter as he returns home after the day. Meeting Wooyung helped a lot as knowing his friend does not find him to be a desperate lunatic is reassuring. He feels light and energetic, despite the hour on the clock being late as the lunch might have dragged out to be dinner too and maybe a few drinks. He needed that.

The door opens easily this time, keys barely even rattling in his hands, and the moment the door closes behind him San lets out a long sigh. He places the bag of fruits he got from the ahjussi in the morning on the floor as he takes off his jacket and shoes and grabs it as he walks further in. He passes the pitch-black coat he has hung in the hallway instead of keeping it close, to contain his own sanity, and the pair of sky blue slippers waiting for someone. The latter is as desperate as the empty mug in the kitchen next to the kettle, but if San has to wait, he is determined to do it properly.

He places the fruit in the fridge and glances at the mug he just thought about. He has bought a new instant coffee - a bit better than the previous one - and for a moment he blames it for his lack of sleep, but he knows it’s not that. 

His bedroom has become a walk-through zone to the bathroom and closet. The blanket is now folded on the couch, shiber doll sitting on top of it, as the said couch is seemingly the only place where he can at least attempt to sleep. His gaze more often than he would end up at the empty chair next to the window, but he has no strength to move it andmore often than he would like to admit he sits in it. It is as if that is and always will be the place for it now.

As the hour on the clock gets even later San finally settles on the couch. He wraps himself in the blanket and holds the precious dog doll close to his chest. His eyes, as he knew they would wander to the empty chair. He stares at it until his eyes fall shut, for no longer than an hour, but he takes what he can get now.

  
  


The weather has gotten colder. The light windbreakers no longer protect from the cold air in the morning or evenings. The leaves have fallen off the trees, leaving orange and yellow traces of their existence on the sidewalks and bellow bushes and trees in the park. Hot late autumn drinks appear on menus in all cafes and pumpkins slowly transform into gingerbread. At this point, it had been almost 5 weeks since San last saw Yunho, but he is still waiting.

He works, studies, helps at the fruit store, goes to the gym, hangs out with Wooyoung and some university friends once in a while and from everyone else's point of view he is leading a fairly ordinary life, yet he is still waiting. He still doesn’t sleep for longer than two or three hours at a time, this sleeping cycle repeating two times at best. His sleeping space has not changed either - he still prefers the couch as his bed still feels too empty.

Deep down he has come into terms with the possibility that he will have to wait for the rest of his life. He remembers very well his own request - to have Yunho as the one who would take him to the other side when the time comes. If he had to wait till that moment to see him he isn’t afraid to say he doesn’t fear death and maybe even awaits it in the least morbid way possible. 

Wooyung has stopped asking if there is any news. He still worries and still cares both for San and also Yunho ‘somewhere out there’ but he knows asking hurts San. He comes over once in a while, as he has always done, but when he offers to stay over San declines the offer. It doesn’t stop him from at least asking. 

Indeed, if looking from the outside San is leading the most ordinary life with hidden problems like everyone. Maybe he gets too alert upon seeing dark figures walking in the crowd - all clad in black with wide-edge hats - figures no one else ever notices. But he couldn’t just say he is anticipating for someone like that to return.

Like every morning he rushes down the street he knows so well towards the fruit shop. During the cold time there is less to do, as outside stands remain almost empty if not apples and others that can take the cold, but he still likes to be on time. He opens the metal shutters and begins filling the shelves, leaving the outside for last - right before he leaves. The ahjussi saunters to the shop not long after and as always inspects each shelf and the storage room.

“I’ll take these out and go,” San yells at the elderly man at the back of the store, two boxed of apples in his hands. There is an approving response and he proceeds to walk out. He places the boxes on the ground, turning his back to the street as he orders the best-looking apples at the very top. He stuffs one in the pocket of his a bit oversized brown jacket, the ahjussi not minding him taking a fruit or two. He is so immersed he barely notices a shadow stopping behind him.

“Sorry, the shop is not open yet,” he says to the person behind him without even turning around and continues working.

“I… I have left something here I desperately need to get back,” a voice that instantly sends a shiver down San’s spine says. His breath gets caught in his chest, his heart beating like mad and the flocks of colibris he hasn’t felt in a while attack him once more. Slowly, as if a fast movement could scare away the person behind him, he turns around and his mouth falls open, a puff of air escaping into the cold morning air.

The attire is almost completely different - still black jeans and boots, but now in combination with a large, black and white sweater reaching halfway through the man’s thighs, a brown coat, a bit longer than the sweater on top of it. The rays of the slowly rising sun dance in the black hair as they always did and wrap around a thin silver necklace that hides something underneath the neckline of the sweater. At first glance, San can’t believe it but the moment it clicks he can’t hold back.

“Yunho…” he breathes out and instantly takes two rushed steps towards the man, almost tripping over his own feet but landing right into an embrace already waiting for him. “Yunho…” San can just repeat as he hides deeper into the man’s chest, begging himself not to burst in tears.

“I am sorry it took so long,” Yunho whispers against the top of San’s head as he places a kiss there. “I am really sorry, San,” he repeats and pulls San even closer if it’s even possible. “I missed you so, so much,” he murmurs and his voice trembles as if it is close to breaking.

“I missed you too. More than anything,” San responds and looks up. He knows their eyes look the same as his - glossy and on the edge of overflowing - but both of them are holding together the best they can, as close as they can.  


“Will you tell me what happened?” San asks, unable to keep his hands still as he needs to be sure it is Yunho. He runs his fingers through the black locks and gently holds the man’s face, admiring the features he missed so dearly. It is truly him, back where San belives he belongs.  


“Yes. Everything,” Yunho replies, his hands mimicking San’s - both of them being in awe upon seeing each other again. Their eyes meet just for a second before Yunho leans closer and his lips just barely press against San’s before he pulls back, the latter pouting immediately.

“I think after all this time you could commit to it,” the blond pouts, making the taller man smile before kissing him properly. The same heavenly feeling as before floods San’s senses and he allows being swept away with the kiss, all questions, and worries melting away at this moment. They all could wait, now that Yunho is back - everything could wait.


	13. - 13 -

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case you are tweeting about the story, use #YourLightFF !!! I will check it once in a while! :D Also find me @ BeanSensei  
> If anyone ever wants to draw art for this, I would love that a lot.

It is impossible for San to let go of Yunho and the taller man is as unable to take even a step away from the blond. Their hands are clasped together tightly, a very present fear of losing each other controlling them, but they seem to ignore it, not to even mention it until it passes. The cold morning air gives a good excuse for them to be pressed close - side by side - and San grabs onto Yunho’s hand with both of his.

They walk down the still rather empty streets, Yunho leading the way to somewhere he wants to show to San. At this point San doesn’t truly care where and what that could be. He feels Yunho’s warmth traveling from their clasped hands through his entire being and that alone makes everything else not important. It is almost ridiculous how suddenly happy and content he feels but he can’t hide the smile that has now settled on his features.

They walk for quite a bit, taking a few turns here and there, the silence between them perfect and not even a bit awkward. Their walk ends in front of a large, three floor building in an older European style house San remembers passing by once or twice, but it has always been abandoned and empty, with missing windows and facade slowly falling apart. What is before his eyes looks completely different. All windows have glass with curtains - some open and some closed - on the top floor while the first floor has two large, open windows, each window showing something different.

The one on the right from the entrance door, situated at the very middle of the symmetrical building, shows the floor of a cafe. Smaller and bigger tables and booths, a high counter and small wall lamps along the side - all furniture in deep wood while the pollsters of the chairs were a tone lighter. Small flower vases on each table and frames on the walls here and there brining an elegant foreign vibe matching the building. Even more - it has people sitting at tables with their morning coffees, reading up on news or checking their socials. Some are chatting, some are reading books. It looks like the most ordinary coffee shop.

San’s eyes can barely focus on a single thing as every detail seems to catch his attention. He gets even more flustered when he recognizes the unnamed reaper standing behind the counter - white button-down shirt with rolled up sleeves and a dark apron on - working the coffee machine. His eyes might be deceiving him, but he can swear he sees Seonghwa sitting in a small sofa at the very furthest corner of the cafe.

Obviously shocked he looks up at Yunho who has a mischievous smile on but doesn’t say a word. San’s eyes dart to the other window and his mouth falls instantly. The other part of the establishment is a bookstore with contrasting white-wood shelves filled with books and a matching counter. Who stands behind it shocks him even more as it’s Jongho - the Librarian cursed to never leave that single room.

San looks up at Yunho again as his brain cannot process this properly yet the taller man just smiles and presses a quick kiss on San’s forehead. “Let’s go in,” he says and San can just nod as Yunho almost pulls his confused self inside, turning toward the bookstore side first.

“Good morning,” he greets Jongho in a loud, cheerful voice and gets shushed immediately by the shorter man.

“Don’t yell,” he frowns at the black-haired man before his eyes land on San by his side. “Choi San,” he seems a bit shocked upon seeing him but in a second his face blooms into a wide smile. “Good morning,” he greets and San is unable to do more but to smile back and nod his head. Maybe it’s his response, but Jongho’s smile quickly falls.

He steps out from behind the counter and stands in front of San. He takes a breath before taking a deep bow. “I take full responsibility for any heartbreak you might have felt during this time. I apologize,” he says as seriously as one can before straightening his back. His hands are by his side, balled into fists, as if he would be in front of a trial. “It was my decision to not erase your memories after the incident. It would have been easier for you if you and the people around you would not remember, however the shock of regaining them could be even more painful,” he explains and it finally hits San. Right, he is in charge of that. 

San lets go of Yunho’s hand and takes a step closer to Jongho. A bright smile blooms on his face and he wraps his arms around the very serious looking young man, pulling him into a hug. “Thank you. This was the best choice,” he says and can only smile brighter when Jongho returns the hug. San lets out a small giggle as the man squeezes him a bit, his body containing farm more strength than it shows. Just like Yunho he radiates warmth and feeling of safety and it’s incredibly home-like.

“I am glad that you agree with my decision,” Jongho’s face is back to the lovely smile he had before as they pull away from the hug. “You do look a bit concerned, though,” he points out and San has to nod.

“I just… don’t understand all this,” San admits as he looks back at Yunho and then at Jongho and the whole book store.

“This time I will leave the explanation to hyung,” he smiles as he looks at the man behind San. “Go, take a seat. I have a new book delivery to go through both here and there,” he smiles and takes a small bow before going back to behind the counter. Even though San has a lot to ask he directs his eyes to Yunho.

“Let’s go?” Yunho asks reaching his hand out so San could take it. The latter is about to as he remembers something he quickly waddles to the counter. He reaches into his pocket, pulling out the shiny red apple he put in it earlier.

“We didn’t bring any the last time we visited,” he says as he hands it to Jongho earning another bright smile from the man who looks at the fruit in his hand with shining eyes.

“Thank you,” he says as he takes the fruit and San returns a smile before going back to Yunho. Even if it’s just for a moment he takes the man’s outstretched hand and follows him past the front door, only now noticing a staircase a bit further down a small hallway right in front of the door, sealed with a metal gate of intricate floral design. He doesn’t ask any questions yet and follows the tall man into the coffee shop.

They maneuver through the tables more towards to the furthest part of the room. A set of 4 double tables is there and in the very corner sits a larger, cream color sofa with a table in front of it. The closer they get the more clear it becomes that the stunningly blond man sitting in the shadow is indeed Seonghwa. He looks up from the book he is reading, his eyes soft and joyful as he sees San next to Yunho. He smiles and cheers at them with the coffee mug he lifts from the table to which both San and Yunho reply with a head nod ass they head to a table a bit further from the sofa.

“I am so confused,” San admits as he sits down, placing his jacket on the back of the chair as Yunho does the same. “What is all this? What happened?” he looks at the man in front of him but before there is a response a perky young man, by the looks of it shorter than San, comes to their table. The name tag attached to his black apron reads ‘HwanWoong’.

“Good morning, manger,” he says with a bright smile directing is greeting at Yunho, which makes San’s eyes go wide. “What would you like?” he asks directing his attention to San as well.

“Have you eaten breakfast?” Yunho turns to San and the bespoken man can just nod.

“I did. Just latte is okay,” he manages to reply his eyes still wide and locked on Yunho.

“Then a latte and a just black coffee,” Yunho to HwanWoong now who takes the order, bows quickly and leaves.

“What is going on?” San murmurs as Yunho turns back to him. “I hope this is the moment you explain because this is once again becoming too much,” he lets his eyes wander around the room - the reaper barista, Seonghwa in the corner and then back to Yunho.

“I will do my best,” Yunho smiles and reaches his hand across the table, San taking it immediately. The need for any kind of contact is quite obvious and they will not deny it.

“After we left, the trial for the captured demons being. During interrogation it turned out there were groups like them in other places as well going after good people,” he begins explaining, his eyes more focused on San’s hand in his than anything else at this point. “Several units were sent out to get them, celestials got involved as well but as of now most of them have been captured,” he looks up at San who is listening as attentive as possible.

“Due to our work and my judgment we could react rather quickly to the brewing mess, so all of us - me, Mingi, Seonghwa, Yeosang, and Jongho - got a wish granted,” he smiles and San can feel his eyes go big again. From what he remembers getting a wish granted is something extremely special.

Yunho stops for a moment as Hwanwoong brings their drinks but as soon as the man leaves he continues. “It turned out getting a wish granted always has a catch. We cannot wish to be human,” he frowns a bit and inhales. “My wish, however, was simple,” his eyes lock with San’s and the blond could swear he has never seen eyes more beautiful - rich cinnamon-brown and sparkling. “I wished I could be with you,” he continues and San feels the flock of colibris going insane in his chest.

“As I can’t be human completely the catch is - as long as you live, I will live as a human too. The moment you…” he stops, his eyes losing their sparkle for a second, “the moment your life will end, I will become a reaper again and be the one who takes you over,” he ends the sentence and it is more than clear it is hard for him to say that so San squeezes his hand tightly.

“I wished for it too, right?” he smiles at the man fully controlled by his emotions right now. “For you to be the one to take me away.”

“San,” Yunho shakes his head but San just grabs onto his hand with both of his and leans forward more.

“There’s a very long time before that,” he reassures. “Rather than thinking of something this sad, tell me more,” he encourages, his own chest feeling tight from nothing less or more than joy. Incredibly cliche, but a lifetime with Yunho seemed great, wonderful even - regardless of the inevitable sad ending.

“Right,” Yunho nods and his other hand places itself on top of San’s, his thumb running soothing circles on the skin. “Well, Yeosang chose the same as me, but for a different person, of course,” he continues the story and glances at the man behind the counter. The more San heard his name and now that the name had a face he seemed more and more familiar. He can’t exactly pinpoint where, how and why he knew the man but he was very familiar.

“Mingi, on the other hand, has remained a reaper, but with an exclusive exception,” Yunho continues and as on a magic whim Mingi’s loud voice can be heard booming around the cafe as he greets someone. Both of them look over - the tall, all in black-clad man with the hat in his hand is smiling the biggest, brightest smile and the blond server - Hwanwoong. The blond, who looks incredibly tiny next to Mingi’s tall stature, just smiles back. He seems a bit awkward by the sudden giant in front of him but also endearing.

“He has been following Hwanwoong through 7 lifetimes - most of them unfairly short. This is the 8th one,” San turns to Yunho who has started speaking again, his eyes at Mingi and the server, the latter trying to convince the tall man that he needs no help in cleaning the tables and that Mingi should sit down.

“In his first life, Hwanwoong committed so many crimes, so many sins he was almost definitely deemed to be a demon. But, at the very end of his life, he fell in love,” Yunho sighs, smiling a little at the scene of the much shorter blond guiding Mingi to an empty seat while the reaper just smiles at him as if he is the most precious thing to him.

“With Mingi?” San asks and Yunho nods.

“As the day of his death was close he met Mingi and his heart couldn’t resist him,” he inhales before turning to San again. “Mingi made a deal for him - if he will be able to find him through eight lifetimes he lives while redeeming his sins, without his name appearing in any notebook, he would be granted entry in heaven instead,” he looks back at his tall, goofy friend stretching his neck to see Hwanwoong behind the counter preparing his order. “This is the last one, the eight one.”

“He found him every single time?” San asks and once more Yunho nods.

“Only every time they met it was a day, even hours before the end of his life. Only at that moment did his heart remembers of Mingi. So Mingi’s wish for this last one was for a free interaction pass with Hwanwoong. He won’t remember the past any faster but Mingi hopes he will, hopefully, love him anew during his last round of redemption.”

“Through eight lifetimes. He saw someone dear to him pass away 7 times and there will be an eight one too,” San murmurs and Yunho squeezes his hands tighter, their eyes meeting.

“Maybe all reapers are a bit insane as Jongho says,” he smiles and San feels himself drowning in the eternal calmness Yunho still has about him. “We are ready to do the craziest things when we love someone,” the last remark makes San frown.

“I wish you wouldn’t,” he pouts but he can’t keep the expression for long as just seeing Yunho in front of him now makes him happy. 

“I will try not to do it as much,” Yunho teases him and it is impossible to stay mad.

“What about Jongho? How come he is here?” San switches the topic back to the long explanation of what actually is going on. 

“His and Seonghwa’s wishes are connected. As you have noticed, Seonghwa is not a very typical reaper,” this time San is the one who nods in response. “He used to be a demon. And a very, very powerful on. To keep it short, he fell in love with an angel and became a reaper. His story is much longer so you will be able to ask him one day yourself,” to this San only nods as well. No wonder his energy was so different from everyone else.

“His wish was to create a place where those of all realms can meet. A safe place with no conflicts so it would be safe for angels to visit, for humans to use it and for runaway demons to seek help. This cafe is the result,” he gives a quick explanation. “There might be other creatures masked amongst our visitors, but here no one will look for them.”

San nods again as it kind of makes sense. “Then why are you the manager?” he adds another question to the ongoing one.

“Seonghwa can’t be one as he in no way can become human. I used to run a tea shop in Joseon when I was old, so I have more expertise than others,” Yunho smiles and San can’t argue with that.

“So what about Jongho?” he insists as maybe he had been deeply worried about the lovely boy being trapped in the Library forever.

“Well, upon hearing Seonghwa’s wish he presented a whole reasoned thesis to back up his wish. The bookstore is a direct extension of the Library and it can be entered through a door in the storage. So technically he is still in the Library. Apart from that he presented his interaction with human realm as “an extended research of coexistence of creatures in many realms in a controlled environment.” San blinks at the title for a bit and it seems like Yunho is rethinking if he even said it correct.

“Maybe a bit differently, but what it means is that he will conduct research by observing how people and other creatures interact in the cafe. It will also serve as a report on how everything is going, so he is free to be here, however, he can’t really leave this building,” Yunho frowns. As he said, all wishes had a catch. “But there are living spaces upstairs. Yeosang and I are using two. Mingi, Seonghwa, and Jongho have one reserved for each of them. It’s not that bad,” the frown changes to a smile.

“How long did it take to set this up?” San looks around, thinking how everything here plus upstairs is a lot of work.

“A week,” Yunho exhales. “We’ve been working nonstop to get it ready and we opened just three days ago. It was even harder as now Yeosang and I need both food and sleep. That’s why… I was back for a week but didn’t look for you yet,” he admits. “I knew that with you around I wouldn’t get anything done and…”

“No, no! Don’t worry,” San smiles genuinely. “I get it!” he reassures and it’s true. He is now fearing himself - how will his well oiled schedule go now that Yunho is here and he has this intense need to be next to him, to win back the lost month.

“Oh no!” he suddenly exclaims and pulls his hands away, grabbing for his phone in his pocket. “I had to meet Wooyoung,” he is relieved and shocked to see no messages on his phone, but he quickly types in the chat.

_ ‘I am sorry! Yunho is back so I doubt I will be able to meet you today!’  _ he hopes the one friend who has lived through his deeply set routine and not entirely happy existence in the past month is okay with it. The reply comes faster than he expects.

_ ‘I saw both of you as I walked to the coffee shop we wanted to go to. No worries. Have fun ;) Tell him I’m glad he’s back,’ _ San reads and lets out a sigh. He quickly adds the bunny sending kisses and hearts emoticon to the chat before putting the phone away again.

“Wooyoung says he’s happy you’re back,” San finally reaches for the latte that has been waiting on the table. It is just barely warm but the taste is still great and he can’t complain.

“I will have to ask him how you were doing this whole time,” Yunho nods and takes a sip from his coffee while San barely restrains from choking.

“I will tell you myself. But later,” he pouts a bit and looks at his cup, the latte at of a cat he didn’t notice before barely holding on. “I was trying to be good, so you wouldn’t come back to a wreck,” he admits and as he still looks at the mug he sees a movement before him but before he can react a kiss is pressed on his forehead.

“Okay. Tell me more later,” San looks a the smiley Yunho before him and nods. The colibris in his chest are going mad but he absolutely loves this feeling. He missed it - the pure feeling of being in love.

“Yunho-ya, hello!” an unknown voice suddenly greets the man in front of San and both of them look up. A young man, probably not older than any of them, in a trendy outfit with sunglasses pushed back on his bright red hair stands before them. “And hello to you, Choi San,” he smiles the cutest smile before turning around on his heel and almost skipping right to the shadowy corner where Seonghwa is sitting.

Without a warning, he dives right onto the sofa and into Seonghwa’s arms- ready to greet the man in as second. It’s a mushy, giggly mess in a matter of seconds with endless eskimo kisses and countless soft words exchanged. A smile is so bright it could blind someone is on Seonghwa’s features, his eyes almost looking tearful as he holds the red-hair as close as he can. The smaller man in return runs his hands through Seonghwa’s hair and is whispering something to him all the time and all San can hear once in a while is ‘I missed you’ and ‘I love you’.

“That’s Seonghwa’s angel - Hongjoong,” Yunho is quick to explain and San lets out a quiet ‘aaahhh’ understanding the incredibly sweet interaction he can see. This is why Seonghwa understood him and Yunho so well. He knew exactly what the two felt looking at each other as he felt the same right now looking at Yunho. The feeling of absolute happiness that comes only when someone the one you love is by your side.

The day seems shorter than ever and San wishes it would never end. Yunho shows San around the house - the upstair rooms, the door to the library - and finally properly introduces him Yeosang. The young man seems more and more familiar but San does not dare to ask from where he feels it might be a heavier topic for another day. 

To a joking question would San like to work here for actual pay he replies and instant ‘yes’. That starts a 30-minute debate on whether he should be a part of the bookstore or cafe. While Jongho lists solid arguments on book deliveries and inventory lists he needs to go through, Yeosang counters them all with numbers of customers. Hwanwoong tries to chime in on how the cafe needs extra hands, which Mingi boosts up in volume almost ten times. The debate leads nowhere but the fact San will start working there soo. It is, however, a great source of entertainment for everyone, especially Seonghwa and Hongjoong who just look at ‘the kids’, as San hears them retort at one point, from the corner.

Apart from everything that has happened, once again in a single day, seeing Yunho eat is probably the most fascinating scene. San barely can get food in his own mouth as he finally sees the large man, who by all laws of nutrition, needs a lot of energy, eating with the most satisfactory expression on his face. It does not seem real and honestly, it even feels surreal to see him in front of San without the black attire let alone being very human - answering phone calls about delivery to the cafe and replying to emails.

The culmination of ‘unreal’ is reached when they stand at San’s doorstep. The street lamps are already on, the cold late autumn night fallen over the city. San has once more divided into Yunho’s embrace, just basking in the man’s endless warmth, giggling at every kiss landing on top of his head.

“I should let you go in and head back myself too,” Yunho says even though he is still holding onto San tightly and it doesn’t feel like he wants to let go or that he will.

“Stay,” San murmurs against Yunho’s chest and looks up, meeting those gorgeous eyes looking down at him. “Stay like you used to,” he asks and the expression on Yunho’s face shifts a little.

“I am no longer a creature than can exist anywhere,” he tries to explain but before he continues and San just shakes his head, tightening his hold around Yunho.

“If you mean human things like pajamas and toothbrush and all that - we can arrange all that. It might be a bit awkward but I know neither of us just wants to go home now,” he pouts hoping it will work. “Stay,” San repeats and he sees how Yunho’s face shifts again.

“Can I really say no to you?” he smiles and kisses San quickly, both of them smiling into the kiss, before letting the smaller man move away enough to unlock the door. 

They both shuffle in - still staying close - and the first thing that catches Yunho’s eyes is his coat hanging in the hallway. His gaze moves to the slippers already waiting for him and his chest tightens. As he looks at San - his face beaming in pure joy - he decides not to ask or say anything. Instead, he hangs his current coat on the hanger and changes to the slippers.

As the living room lights are turned on he sees the chair still next to the window, the blanket, and pillow along with the shibber doll on the couch. His eyes wander to the barely lit kitchen, the two coffee mugs with the whimsical comic strips next to the kettle. Yunho’s eyes immediately dart to San who is closing the curtains and his heart feels like breaking. He moves across the living room with few large steps and immediately wraps his arms around San, pulling his back against his own chest.

“I am so sorry, Sani,” he whispers resting his forehead against San’s head. “I might have let you know I am okay and hear earlier. I am so sorry,” he murmurs and lets out a shaky breath when San places his hands on Yunho’s.

“Why are you suddenly like this? I already said it’s okay,” the pout in San’s voice is audible and Yunho barely allows the shorter man to turn around, his cute face making it sting a bit more. “What’s wrong?” the blond asks and his hands reach up to smooth hair away from Yunho’s face and gently thread through the black locks.

“Just… all the little things around…” Yunho’s eyes go to the chair behind San and then back to the blond.

“Oh! No, no, no, no! Don’t think about them like that!” San cups the lovable face before him in his hands. “It was just easier waiting like that. I still went to work and studied. I hung out with Wooyoung and other friends too. I ate well and did everything to not just sit here and go insane. I was as okay as I could be while still missing you like crazy every day,” he looks straight into Yunho’s eyes as he speaks. “The only thing I couldn’t keep up with was sleep,” he admits. “But now I will, right?” he smiles and squishes the taller man’s cheeks.

“Yes,” Yunho nods, his cheeks still in San’s control and they both can’t help but laugh.

As predicted it is a bit awkward - waiting for each other to take a shower and change - however, the result makes San’s flock of colibries go insane in his chest. Yunho looks like the most adorable puppy with hair still dump, ears toned a bit red, San’s pants fitting him well if not ending a bit above his ankles, the t-shirt being a much better fit. His eyes wander around as he comes back and it is so cute San can’t look away from him even a bit.

The taller man sits down on the bed next to San and they sit quietly for a moment before they both burst out laughing. “Let’s just go to sleep?” San suggests and it doesn’t take long for both of them settle in their usual spot - San partially laying on top of Yunho. Just a few deep breaths until they fall into familiar sync - holding onto each other tightly and absorbing the very moment together. Finally, San feels like he will be able to sleep properly and he is very sure from now on it won’t be a concern ever again.


	14. - 14 -

“Stay,” San whines as he holds onto Yunho’s hand with both of his. They are standing in the small hallway - Yunho about to put on his shoes and coat to leave. The late autumn night has settled behind the window with wind chasing fallen leaves along the pavement, pulling along dark clouds of possible rain. It is everything but lovely outside and maybe that is one of the reasons San doesn’t want to let Yunho go. The other one, or rather the list of other reasons is more selfish.

“Don’t you think I am staying over far too often,” Yunho smiles and takes a step back to stand right in front of San. He takes the shorter man’s hands in his and can just smile at how tightly San holds onto him instantly.

“Not at all. We both enjoy it when you stay over, right?” San asks with the slightest pout. “It feels right when you stay,” he ads and his eyes - the endlessly sparkling light in them - makes Yunho speechless for a second, even though he sees it so often. He will forever be in awe at that.

“We talked about it, didn’t we?” he asks and San looks away for a moment, frowning just a little bit.

“We talked about not being too dependent on each other,” he turns back, his gaze determined and he tries to look as serious as possible but for Yunho he is still cute. “I have my university routine on lock and my grades are good. I hang out with Wooyoung too. When at the cafe we both work as professionally as we can. We are proving quite well we can function like normal people,” he lists and Yunho can’t deny any of it. They were trying their very best to not be stuck together all the time and it seemed to work. Even though they would love to spend every single moment at each other’s side.

“You’re right,” the taller of two nods and raises San’s hands up to his lips, kissing them one after another.

“You’re staying?” San beams up and as soon as Yunho nods throws his hands around the man’s shoulders and tiptoes to kiss him. “Good,” he smiles and the only logical response in Yunho’s mind is to kiss him again.

At this point, Yunho staying over is almost an every night kind of a thing. Since the very night, they reunited he has been a more than just frequent guest in San’s cozy apartment, his room on top of the cafe mostly left unused. He has his own improvised t-shirt and slack pajama set here and his own toothbrush. They even had their own bedtime routine and in all felt like something they have been doing for years now - natural, safe and in a way fulfilling.

As the hour on the clock is late and both of them have an early morning the bedtime routine takes over and they fall into a familiar rhythm. San takes a shower first, returning in his pajamas to the room and climbing onto the bed, still drying his damp hair with a towel. He follows with his eyes how Yunho’s tall frame walks to the bathroom. Having him close so often makes San happy to no end, but maybe, just maybe he is longing for more.

He blames him through and through human nature that has started almost desperately crave for more than just cuddles and kisses. He has had these thoughts before - when everything between them was far fresher - so now it makes even more sense. It is almost silly how the thought alone of having Yunho’s hands all over his body and lips on his skin makes his cheeks burn up and the wild colibris, that truly never rested around his flower, going wild. This evening turns out to be the final drop in his admittedly horny patience.

San is aimlessly rolling around the bed, poking his phone just for a bit, until he hears the bathroom door opening. Out of pure instinct, he looks up at the man coming into the room and his mouth instantly falls open, phone landing on the mattress.

“Sorry, I left the t-shirt here,” Yunho smiles shyly as he walks past the bed. All he is wearing all the black slacks maybe, just maybe, riding too low on his waist to be healthy for San’s sanity. His black hair is still dripping wet, the towel around his shoulders catching the droplets falling from the wild and dark mess. The silver necklace of the feather - now a pendant of most fragile design - resting between his collarbones and glistening in the lights of the room, gaining more reflective power from the dripping water. He usually looked like the cutest wet puppy when he came to bed but San can’t focus on the cute face and maybe he is a bit ashamed about himself, but he can't care less.

San’s eyes scan the half-naked man who walks past him, taking in everything about him. Almost like shy teens, they have somehow avoided any skin exposure before each other so this is all new to San. He can see the deeply set scars on Yunho’s arm he tries to ignore or else the scene of the hellhound tackling the man plays vividly before his eyes. He notices smaller ones here and there along Yunho’s torso just at first glance and he is sure he could find more at a closer inspection. 

He very shamelessly takes in each curve of muscles and how they are placed on the comparingly larger man as the latter dries his hair. The proportion of his long arms and wide shoulders even more evident than before. He is not anything from a cover of a bodybuilding magazine but with each second San stares, as he can’t call it just looking, he realizes how incredibly perfect Yunho is. Each muscle stands out against his slightly tan skin and even the small scars here and there creates a mesmerizing contrast. He can barely move past the necklace resting against Yunho’s sternum as it is the perfect accent to his chest. He bites on his lower lip as Yunho turns to the chair where his shirt has remained. Even though his eyes try to pry on each small detail they immediately get stuck on the two rather long and large, uneven and red scars on Yunho’s shoulder blades.

“Yunho,” he speaks up as the man is about to pull on the shirt. “Don’t move,” he instructs and Yunho immediately freezes. “Don’t turn around but step back, please,” he instructs and while Yunho quietly obeys the request crawls to the edge of the bed himself, kneeling at the edge. 

“Is something wrong?” Yunho asks over his shoulder as he back of his legs hits the bed, the shirt over his head but held up by his hands. Only when San moves even closer, his fingers delicately running over one of the scars on Yunho’s back, he understands. He had forgotten about them until this moment. “Oh…” he lets out quietly and pulls the shirt over his head, keeping it in his hand. “Those.”

“When you said...” San’s fingers run over the uneven skin. Each of the lines is good two fingers width and almost the length of a forearm. “When you said ripping off your wings, I always thought it was meant metaphorically,” San speaks quietly, as his touch still gently goes over the roughed skin. 

“When on earth angels hide their wings but in any other realm they are real,” Yunho explains and moves to sit down on the bed, his back still to San. “So they are very real.”

“Then… it hurt, didn’t it?” San asks. His touch is barely there and feather-light but it somehow brings comfort to Yunho and warmth rushing through him. It would have been great to have such touch around when he lost the wings.

“It did. I have never felt such physical pain ever before,” he admits and feels how San freezes for a moment before he returns to the gentle pattern of his caress. “When I say they were ripped away… they were literally,” he adds.

“Does it still hurt?” the blond behind him asks in a small voice and sadly Yunho has to nod. 

“It sometimes does. It’s like a sharp ghost pain of something that isn’t there. As if they are being pulled out again,” he explains. “It could be worse. Seonghwa got his horns pulled out so now he deals with intense migraines much more often than I do with back pain,” he tries to ease the situation even though he knows it probably won’t help. What he doesn't expect at that moment is to feel San’s lips pressing against the carved valleys on his back. Three kisses on each one before he moves closer and hugs Yunho, his head resting on his shoulder.

“And you dared to say you would do it again,” San murmurs. He unwillingly let's go as Yunho moves to get more into the bed to face San.

“For you, I would,” Yunho tries to ease the situation with a smile but San is not taking it only frowning deeper. 

“Don’t say that,” he takes Yunho’s hand in his and his fingers as gently as before trace over his lower-arm and the deep-set scars left by the demon hound. “No one is worth getting hurt this much for,” he whispers.

“You are,” the taller of two pulls his hand away and takes San’s slightly frowning face in them. “For you, I would give my wings up again. I would fight any monsters from the depths of hell,” he looks right in the endless eyes that always sparkle like an entire galaxy when looking at him. 

“And what can I do return? What can I give?” San frowns harder and Yunho presses a kiss between his eyebrows, the frown disappearing instantly. 

“I don’t need anything else but you. The fact that I know you love me the same way I love you is more than enough,” he runs his thumbs over San’s cheeks and doesn’t hold him back when the smaller of two moves forward and presses his lips against Yunho’s.

“Then you have to love me back properly,” San breathes against Yunho’s lips, their foreheads resting together. “Don’t get hurt anymore. Don’t do anything stupid because it’s very hard to love a crazy fool,” he rubs the tip of his nose against Yunho’s making the taller man smile.

“Okay. I will do my very best,” he kisses the blond once more and this time the lip lock is longer. Barely breaking the contact Yunho turns around now kneeling on the bed too. San’s arms are around his shoulders, his fingers tangling in Yunho’s wet hair and almost pulls him closer, even though it is not possible. Yunho is holding the blond man close by his waist - hands on his sides as over the fabric of the t-shirt he is wearing.

It doesn’t seem like either of them wants to pull away and it a silent, mutual consent to go with the moment. It’s a barely-there push and pull instinct from both that leads with San’s back pressed against the mattress, Yunho above him. The natural flow of their movements sets Yunho between San’s legs - the latter still having his arms wrapped around the taller man’s bare shoulders as if to reassure he won’t run away.

Their shared kisses are almost lazy - slow and deep - but not for a second do they lose the meaning behind them. It’s their own calm but still soul-stirring rhythm that makes toes curl and breathes to shake. Even though so many of their actions resembled those of teenagers first in love their kisses were those of old lovers with all possible love, comfort, and passion in them.

An added sensation, especially for San, is Yunho’s hands finally creeping underneath his shirt. His touch is gentle and warm, sending pleasant waves through San’s entire being. He already knew this, but Yunho’s hands are soft and caring, each movement forward slow and careful but still confident. His fingers caress the skin on San’s sides and the blond can’t hold back a shiver even if he would try.

“San,” Yunho whispers against the blond’s lips and he just hums, eyes closed, to show he hears him as the dark-haired man’s touch is absolutely distracting. “If we want to stop, this is the last moment when we can. Anything more and I…” his breath is shaky and San can feel it vibrate in his entire body.

“Let’s not stop,” he opens his eyes to meet Yunho’s looking right back at him. “Let’s finally not stop,” he breathes out and pushes his torso up from the bed. Just for a second, they look at each other in silence before they move. On an unspoken command, Yunho grabs the edge of San’s shirt and pulls it over the blond’s head who complies instantly. The shirt is thrown in the general direction of the chair but no one cares whether it reaches it or not. 

San’s arms are back around Yunho’s shoulders as he pulls him closer again, his back meeting the covers. Yunho’s hands are braver but still as gently, caressing San’s sides and going under him to pull him closer. A shiver runs through both of them as their bare skin meets and San can’t help but arch more into the contact.

The rhythm of the kiss is lost and they pull away, their breathing rushing in their chest and their eyes meeting. Everything feels right and does not require any verbal confirmation as a simple look or smile says enough. Just quickly Yunho pecks San’s slightly parted lips before moving his kisses over the blond’s jaw and down his neck. His hands settle on the edge of San’s pants and just barely his fingers slide under it but it is more than enough for San to shiver. 

The taller man is unfairly skillful in teasing with both his mouth and hands, the cool metal of his necklace dragging along San’s skin and adding another sensation. His lips not only leave a pleasant tingle on San’s neck, his teeth just barely coming in contact with sensitive skin, but also carry on their path over his chest. The large hands of the man continue skimming under the edge of San’s pants and then back over the fabric, staying on San’s ass for an impolitely short period of time before moving again. San would complain but he loves the teasing too much. 

His mouth is slightly agape, heavy and hot breathes leaving his lips. His eyes are half-closed as he looks at Yunho slowly as if they have all the time on the planet, kiss down his torso. The blond inhales sharper before letting a long, satisfied breath leaves his lips as Yunho’s skillful lips lock around one of his nipples. There is a witty remark at the back of San’s head of how Yunho’s skill from way back in the day are superb and they did it obviously way better in Joseon but is no state to actually say it. 

Yunho’s hands all over his thighs, sadly over the fabric but still so, so close to the very obvious strain in his pants it is almost enough. His mouth moves from one of the hard nipples to others giving it the same treatment and San’s breathe shakes again. His hands are on the back of Yunho’s head, keeping him in place and encouraging him but when his head moves up San doesn’t stop him.

“You look so beautiful,” Yunho’s eyes are looking directly at San, the whole attention of the cinnamon-colored pools of warmth are on him and it makes San’s heart beat faster. To him, Yunho looked incredible right now - with his eyes big and excited, his hair a mess on top of his head and his full lips parted. His tongue darts over his lower lip and on pure reflex San’s does the same. It is counted seconds before their lips meet in a kiss. It still has the same deep feeling - as if they have spent centuries together - as all of their other ones, but it’s faster, more exciting as if they can’t get enough of it, which is true.

Yunho’s hands finally dare to move more and his large palm just barely rests on the bulge in San’s pants, which is enough to make the smaller man let out the most undignified moan. He has to pull away from the kiss, his neck arching back as moan after moan falls from his lips from nothing more than Yunho palming him through the fabric. Sweat has started forming on his skin and Yunho takes in the short moment to admire the physique of his stunning lover.

Each muscle carved to perfection in the slim, almost petite body that by the looks alone is not weak at all. It is as if the two worlds of strength and beauty have met in San and Yunho is absolutely mesmerized by it. How his chest rises and falls in deep breathes; the arch of his neck and his back; how his tongue rests against his bottom lip seductively. His whole body shivers at each movement Yunho makes with his hand and it’s incredible to the point Yunho allows his hand to do more.

Most wonderful moan falls from San’s lips as Yunho’s hand finally slides into his pants, his long fingers completely wrapping around the blond’s hard cock. San’s hips thrust up into the hand almost immediately and Yunho can’t hold back a small giggle, holding the obviously excited blond down gently by the hip. As he calms down Yunho uses his unoccupied hand to pull down the restraining slacks, giving his hand more space to move over his lover’s length.

“Yunho,” San whines as Yunho strokes him teasingly slow, swiping his thumb over the sensitive crown and obviously loving each shiver that runs through the blond and each sinful moan coming from his lips. “Please,” San whines again and his glossy eyes meet Yunho’s.

“Not like this? More?” Yunho asks, the simultaneously needy and sultry look in San’s eyes almost making him lose his control. As the blond nods, Yunho has to swallow quite loudly, pushing back his own excitement. He moves up to kiss San again, welcoming each and every moan and whimper into his mouth as he moves his hand, driving the blond close to crazy. 

“Whatever you want,” he smiles at the already as good as the destroyed man below him and he can’t help but let out a quiet laugh as San whines in the most adorable way when Yunho gets out of the bed. “A bit of patience, my love,” he smirks and pulls off his own slacks. There is a sharp inhale from San followed by the most wanton moan he has let out so far. With very little grace and obviously not caring the blond kicks off his own pants completely.

It’s a double staredown as Yunho takes in the unbelievable beauty that is his San sprawled on the bed, completely naked and breathing heavy. The blond’s hand goes to his own length, stroking it lazily while his other goes to his mouth, two fingers resting between his lips as he sucks on them slowly and almost intentionally sloppily. 

“Don’t just look,” he moans, his tongue coating his fingers with saliva. “The second drawer in the table,” he slurs his words together a bit, his dripping wet fingers reaching to his hole, slowly circling the rim as moan after moan falls from his lips. This is a completely different San from what Yunho has seen before and he catches himself, unbelievably, falling more for the man in this very second.

It is not more than two steps to the desk and then two more back to the bed with a bottle of clear, by the label stating vanilla scented liquid in his hand. His eyes do not miss other quite interesting items hidden in the drawer, but they can be discussed or used some other time. 

It hasn’t taken him more than a minute to return to the bed, but San is already working one finger in and out of himself, breathing heavy and looking at Yunho with the most desire filled gaze the man has ever seen. He moans from the very sight of Yunho kneeling on the bed between his legs and whines from his own hands moving, clearly wanting Yunho to take over. He doesn’t have to say it out loud.

“Yunho,” he whimpers and even though this is not the situation to feel shy he feels the heat rising in his cheeks and all over his body as Yunho looks at him, observes him. His eyes are deep and dark and their usual warmth has turned into scalding heat. His tongue swipes over his lips as just for a moment he does nothing else but stares at San now pushing and pulling two fingers in and out of himself. San should feel something more than just a bit of shyness, maybe embarrassment at how needy his moans sound and how he pleads through breathy whimpers of Yunho’s name, but he rather feels pride.

His eyes go to Yunho’s cock - as hard as it can get, long and thick - between his legs and the very idea that it’s twitching and obviously waiting for any kind of attention just because of him makes him proud. “You are unbelievable,” Yunho finally says and moves. The cap of the lube clicks open and the sweet scent swirls in the air as he coats three of his long fingers in the shiny substance. His skills are on a different level as he swiftly hooks San’s leg around his lower waist, the blond’s ass slightly elevated and giving Yunho the perfect access both with his fingers now and his dick later. San’s own hand is useless now and he lets it fall to his side.

A slick hand firmly grabs onto San’s ass cheek, somehow perfectly being able to grab it. He can feel the lightest but at the same, the tightest squeeze before his cheeks are pulled apart and a sleek finger traces his pulsating and semi-stretched rim. There is such finesse in the way Yunho teases him San tries to make a mental note and ask him about these skills but he is also well aware he will forget due to this overwhelming moment. 

The blond can’t hold back yet another sinfully loud and lewd moan as Yunho pushes in his finger. The comparingly longer digit reaches deeper and San feels himself shivering. His pre-work gives way to another digit soon after and the smaller man just has to roll his hips down. He is instantly rewarded for his eagerness with the fingers curling inside of him, just barely grazing the knot of nerves deep inside him but still making him see stars for a second.

“How much more beautiful can you get?” Yunho’s voice is low and seductive, adding another layer of overwhelming want and need to San’s already overflowing pool of desire. “It so incredibly hard to take this slow,” he almost whispers as he leans forward, his cock rubbing against San’s ass as his fingers, now three, still work him open. “Stunning,” he breathes out against San’s lips before they kiss for the nth time. Admirably it is borderline sloppy but never crosses the line, still keeping the same depth of their slow kisses.

“No more slow,” San moans between kisses. “Please,” he pleads and nothing else needs to be said. He shivers when the long fingers are withdrawn but as soon as he feels something larger, heavier resting against his entrance he shivers for a completely different reason.

It is almost painful but the pleasure taking control over San’s senses dulls it all down and all he can feel is the incredible stretch and the sensation of being completely filled. Yunho’s hands are on his hips, the man’s breathing shaky as he collects himself the sensation being too much for him too. Those are probably the most silent and still seconds the whole night as both of them fully settle into their positions and Yunho starts to move.

Slow, careful and precise while still deep, pleasurable and impactful - each thrust adds more to the raging fire all over San’s body and in the pit of his stomach. He even doubts he could control his own hand to stroke his cock, so he lets out a helpless whine, grabbing onto the sheets above his head when Yunho speeds up. His back lifts from the bed as his prostate is hit on random and his hips roll down trying to get more out of it. 

As if knowing what is needed Yunho unhooks San’s legs from his middle and lifts them up, the back of his knees on Yunho’s shoulders. It is all that is needed for the thrusts to hit the right spot over and over again and San can’t stand it anymore, reaching a shaky hand to his throbbing length. He moans Yunho’s name over and over again as if that is the only thing he can say.

“Just a second… just a moment… Sani… together…” his ears seem to barely work but he hears Yunho’s voice and nods even though it is so hard to stop himself. Yunho’s grip on his hips grows stronger and San takes it as a sign, his hand flying over his cock for counted seconds before he finishes with a distorted version of Yunho’s name coming from his mouth. He can feel how his lover comes right as he does, San’s name on his lips, and maybe that adds to the incredible pleasure he is feeling even more.

His whole body shivers, spasming a bit as he lives out his high in his hand and on Yunho’s dick, the man riding his out with muffled groans. They both slowly come to a halt and catch their breath. The around them is heavy, each sound muffled and amplified at the same time but it is the most wonderful fog wrapping around them. They move almost in slow motion as Yunho slips out of him and lowers his legs back on the bed. San is to worn out to move, is eyes clouded with pleasure and he still feels absolutely high to the point the biggest, goofiest smile appears on his face when Yunho hovers above him.

“Yunho…” he breathes out the man’s name with a smile and without thinking twice cups the man’s sweaty face to pull him down for a kiss, which is not denied to him. “Oh no, I got you dirty,” he almost hiccups as he says it, one of his hands stained with his cum and some of it now on Yunho’s cheek. As much as his body allows he raised from the bed and licks off his own mess from his lover's cheek and instantly earns a deep groan from the man, followed by a kiss as deep. 

“You are incredible,” Yunho smiles against his lips, settling more to the side from the middle of the bed and pulling San closer. They both needed shower but it could wait 10 or 20 minutes until they calmed down a bit more.

“So are you, Joseon sex master,” San laughs and kisses the curve of Yunho’s neck. 

“How did you know my nickname?” Yunho asks earning a shocked look from the blond. “It’s a joke,” he smiles and kisses his almost pouting lover for the who knows which time.

“Not a very funny one,” San frowns and rests his head on Yunho’s shoulder, his eyes locking on the silver necklace. His fingers trailing the delicately made feather. San’s mind trails back to the scars on Yunho’s back, to who his lover really is, what awaits them somewhere in the future, but he doesn’t allow himself to dwell on it for too long. 

Yunho’s fingers gently thread through his hair, as they did so often, and he can do nothing more but smile. San presses a kiss against Yunho’s chest next to the silver feather before moving up and pressing a kiss on Yunho’s lips, catching the man a bit by surprise but he responds regardless.

“I love you,” San intentionally looks right in Yunho’s eyes as he says it as he adores the change in them - how they sparkle when he hears those words. 

“And I love you, my angel,” Yunho replies, his fingers gently caressing San’s cheek. 

“Silly,” San kisses him again and as his body seems to be mobile enough again straddles his lower waist - hands on his shoulders when he sits up to look down at Yunho. “You are the angel here,” he looks down at the man he finds the most handsome, the most loveable in the entire world and follows him with his eyes as he sits up. For San’s surprise, Yunho reaches around his own neck and unhooks the necklace. Without thinking twice he reaches towards San, placing it around San’s neck.

“Yunho…” San doesn’t really know what he can say at this moment.

“I have lost my wings while you haven’t gotten yours yet - so while you are waiting for them, we can share the last bits of mine,” Yunho smiles but San can’t truly smile in return as he feels his eyes fogging up. 

“Now why would you say that,” he pouts and lets himself be pulled tightly against Yunho’s chest and swept away with another kiss. As Yunho slowly falls back San doesn’t protest and allows himself to be pulled down again. Maybe, just maybe it felt like a proposal of a sort but San knew even without it he is here to spend a lifetime with Yunho and an eternity afterward.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THE JOURNEY IS OVER!  
> Thank you all for reading and going through this together with YunSan and me!  
> As one journey ends another one begins! I will continue updating with something YunSan every Friday or Saturday, depending on my schedule!  
> So stick around for more!!!  
> P.S all progress on updates can be caught on my twitter @ BeanSensei

**Author's Note:**

> Hello!  
> My first ATEEZ work, which is logically is my first Yunho/San work as well!  
> I have divided this into small/average sized chapters for easier reading and I plan on updating once a week! :)  
> I have plenty of ideas I will try to write out, so stick around if you want to! Or drop by my twitter to stay updated and share the work.
> 
> Find me on: [Twitter](https://twitter.com/BeanSensei)  
>   
>  **OTHER ATEEZ FAN FICTION**  
>  **||** [ YunSan: Your Light ](https://archiveofourown.org/works/19869763) **||** [ YunSan: The Silver Mask ](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21159272) **||** [ YunSan: The Morning Alarm ](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21284231) **||** [ YunSan: A Gift ](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21452566) **||** [ YunSan: Useless Skills](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21523681) **||** [ YunSan : Cliche ](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21573070) **||** [ YunSan: The Little Things ](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21648208) **||** [ YunSan: It All Starts Somewhere ](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21684025) **||** [ YunSan: Perfect](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21719539) **||** [ YunSan: Sugar and Spice](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21758428) **||** [ YunSan: Magnetic](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21932962) **||** [ JongWoo: Slow Down](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21794587) **||** [ 2Choi: City Lights](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21706930)


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